Code Manga Lyoko
by Digitick
Summary: A totally different look at the Code Lyoko story if it had been an Anime
1. Chapter 1: Pilot pt1

When Code Lyoko first came out, quite a few people thought it was an anime. And that made me think: what if Code Lyoko had been a anime or manga? And so I made this series. Enjoy!

**PILOT**

"I'm telling you guys, she up to something" Jeremy said.  
"Ah, come off it already Jeremy" Odd said, spearing a potato on the fork. "You've been going on about this for the last few days." He popped the spud into his mouth and started going for the other one already.  
"What are you guys going on about? Yumi asked, sitting down at the table.  
"It's Jeremy being paranoid again" Ulrich replied. "He thinks that new student that started here this week is up to something."  
"I don't think she is, I know she is!" Jeremy shouted, thumping the table. "And tonight I'm going to prove it."  
"How?" Odd asked, smiling. "Are you going to stalk her as she goes home?"  
"As a matter of fact, yes"

17:30pm, a few blocks away from Kadic College. He had been following her for 20 minutes now, and so far nothing strange had happened. The only thing peculiar she did was once point her watch at the school, turn around until it beeped, then started walking home. 'Maybe I was wrong' He thought to himself.  
"Alright" she said, breaking him out of his self doubt. "I know you there, and I know you've been following me. Show yourself now, and I might be kind"  
Jeremy gulped. How had she seen him? Should he really come out and reveal himself?  
Suddenly a bolt of energy shot from the tree across the street. The girl flipped sideways, the beam missing her by an inch. "Right then" she said, pulling off her backpack, "Let's do this the hard way then"  
She pushed a button on her watch and said "Scanner Aelita!"  
A ball of energy encircled her and began spinning. She curled up into a ball inside, then stretched out. "Virtualise!" she shouted. The sphere glowed bright white and cracked, Aelita dropped on the ground, dressed in a pink shirt and skirt, yellow pants and arm bracers with two stripes on her face.  
She smiled and said "Ready or not, here I come."

With an electronic screech the thing shot from the tree towards her.  
Jeremy caught a glimpse of something insectile before it zoomed up into the sky.  
It twisted and dive bombed down to Aelita, energy blast flying down towards her.  
She held her arms up above her. Just before her hands the air turned white and solidified into a round curved shield. The blasts hit the shield, some bouncing off, others dissipating on it. Jeremy saw her go down on one knee under the assault.  
The bug shot down and stopped inches from her. It was like a wasp, but with eight legs, four wings, three red eyes and a round hole for a mouth.  
The hole glowed and then discharged. Aelita cried out as her shield cracked.  
She fell back and the bug zipped in, ready to finish her off.  
"Get away from her!" Jeremy shouted, jumping on top of it. His weight drove it down to the ground were it struggled to shake him off. He held on tight and thought of rowdy cowboys. 'Now I know how it feels' he thought to himself  
"MOVE!" he heard. He jumped off quick, just in time. A loud shriek hit the wasp and hit it straight against a brick wall. The sonic assault quickly shattered it and the wall. Jeremy looked at Aelita open mouthed. She stood with her legs apart, hands pointed forward for a few minutes more, breathing hard, then moved to him.  
"My hero" she said, grinning, and helped him up. Jeremy still just gazed in wonder.  
"Take a picture, it lasts longer" she said, walking to the tree.  
He blushed and quickly caught up to her. "What was that thing?" he asked.  
"Must have been a new form of Frelion. Never had a problem blasting one before.  
Still, now I know about it" She looked at her watch and turned in one spot.  
When she reached the tree it flashed blue. "So that's where it is" she said.  
"What?" said Jeremy, looking around for another wasp.  
"The portal it used to get here" she replied. Walking up to the tree she held the watch up so that the screen on it faced forward.  
A beam shot out and Jeremy saw it, a white revolving distortion in the air.  
For a moment he swore he saw a tower in the background.  
Aelita closed her eyes, held her arms out sideways, and sang. The portal shimmered, pixelated and disappeared. She stopped and turned to Jeremy.  
"Come on, hero" she said, putting her arm around him. "I think I owe you some answers."

"All clear. You can come in" Aelita said, holding open the door. Jeremy entered the house and followed her up the stairs. He look at some of the photos hanging there.  
"Hey, I know him!" he said, pointing the picture. "He use to teach science and computer classes at school."  
"That's my brother" she said, and Jeremy noted a sad tone in her voice.  
They went into her room. Jeremy sat down in a bean chair while Aelita got on the bed.  
"O.K, my parents won't be home for a while, so that gives me a few minutes to answer your questions". Sighing, she picked up a photo of her and her brother from the bed stand and looked at it with sad eyes. Smiling at some old memory, she told him.  
"It all started with my brother. He was brilliant, as you know from his classes. He was working on some new idea, something about A.I. that could evolve. He created a virtual world named Lyoko in which this intelligence could grow.  
His whole experiment is in the old factory downtown, a massive supercomputer and calculator. He even managed to find a way in and out of his world.  
But then something happened."  
"Virus attacked and warped the A.I's programming. It became evil, corrupted."  
A tear ran down her face. "And it killed my brother"  
Wiping her face she continued. "My brother always thought ahead and made this gadget for my" she said, pointing at her watch. "It can detect virtual portals and particles in the real world, and also can transform a person into a virtual being with powers. But most important, mine allows me to control the towers and the minarettes."  
"What do you mean yours?" Jeremy asked.  
"My brother made four devices. He wanted me and my family to be able to go with him to Lyoko, but of course, that never happened."  
"And the towers and minarettes?"  
"The towers link our world and the virtual world together. Some of them however, have a minarette, or micro tower inside that contains a power. My brother, just before he died in battle with Xana, scattered the minarettes throughout our world and the virtual one."  
"And whose Xana?"  
"The rogue A.I. He's the one who created the wasp you saw. He's always trying to get to our world, and usually tries using the towers to get here.  
"Usually?"  
"He has some minarettes. He sometimes uses them, but once used it takes a while for him to recharge them."  
Aelita sighed again, her shoulders sagging. Wearily she looked at Jeremy and said  
"I'm so tired of all this, Jeremy. I've been fighting him for almost a month now.  
I need help."  
Jeremy smiled and said "I think I now 3 guys who'll be more then willing to help".


	2. Pilot pt2

Here's more of Code Manga Lyoko's Pilot Episode. Thanks for all the reviews so far. Keep it up!

**Pilot **

"And that's everything" Aelita said.  
Odd, Ulrich and Yumi stared at her with wide eyed surprise.  
"Wow" Yumi said softly.  
"Wait, let me get this straight" Odd said. "So there's a big bad virus that wants to take over the world, and you get to kick his (and his bugs') ass?"Aelita nodded. "Dude, that rocks!" he said, bouncing up and down on his bed.  
Jeremy had brought her to the school dorms and introduced her to his friends.  
She had just finished telling them about Lyoko and Xana. Well, almost all.  
She took them in one by one.  
Yumi was still lost in thought about it all. Ulrich stood quietly by the bed, but every now and again his eyes would flick to Yumi. Odd was still bouncing up and down with excitement. 'Guess now's better a time then ever'.  
"There's one more thing" she said. They looked at her, and she started fidgeting.  
"Uhm, I need to ask you, well you see..."  
"She needs our help guys" Jeremy said. "She been fighting all on her own all this time, but it's getting too much. Will you guys help her?"  
"Yeah, you bet" Odd said immediately.  
Yumi turned to Ulrich. He stood silently for a few minutes, his eyes closed.  
"Can't you just unplug the super computer in the factory?" he asked.  
"Wha-?" Aelita jumped. "Uh, no, no I can't. Xana's protecting it. He knows that if it goes he goes, and he's made sure that no one can get to it."  
"Well Ulrich?" Yumi asked. "I'll help" He said, blushing slightly.  
"You can count on me too, Aelita" Yumi said.  
"Thanks guys-" Beep, Beep, Beep her watch went, flashing blue.  
She quickly flicked up the top and read the info. "Looks like your already going to get see some action" she said. She pulled out the other 3 watches from her bag and handed them to her new friends.  
"What about you, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked.  
"I'm going to be here, and keep an eye on you guys" he said. He gave them all small earpieces with a two view camera attached. "With these I'll be in constant contact with you, and be able to see everything you see. Good luck guys"  
"All right guys" Aelita said, "Lets' move out!".  
As Odd, Ulrich and Yumi walked out the room, Aelita turned to Jeremy and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Jeremy, for all your help. I'll bring your friends back soon." she said, and left.  
Blushing, Jeremy touched his cheek, smiled, then started typing on his computer.

They ran down the street, cutting down alleyways, and headed to the main district of the city. "We're almost there!" Aelita shouted, looking at her watch.  
They turned a corner and stopped dead in their tracks, mouths hanging open.  
"What are they?" Odd asked, looking at the small brown creatures scurrying about.  
"Roachers" Aelita replied, scanning the area. "Their not too tough, but in a group like this they can be quite a problem."  
"They seem to be looking for something" Ulrich said.  
"A minarette! They must be after a minarette" Aelita said. She looked up and said "Up there!".  
On the building roof they saw a strange glow, soft and diffused.  
"Oh no!" Yumi said and pointed. A tech-wasp was flying up towards it.  
Suddenly a bolt of yellow energy forked out and struck it, blowing it up in flash of light. "Now that's what a call a "No fly" zone" Odd said.  
"We've got a problem" Ulrich said. The roachers seen them and were fast approaching them. About knee high, the looked like a flea's body on four small metal legs. Three red eyes glared at them, and below that a round pipe protruded.  
On their heads a sort of eye symbol had been added, making them seem more eery and evil.  
"OK guys, just follow my lead, and getting ready to hit them with all you got"  
Aelita said. She touched a button on her watch and said "Scanner Aelita!".  
A ball of energy encircled her and began spinning. She curled up into a ball inside, then stretched out. "Virtualise!" she shouted. The sphere glowed bright white and cracked, Aelita dropped on the ground, dressed in a pink shirt and skirt, yellow pants and arm bracers with two stripes on her face.  
"Now you guys do it!"  
All 3 of them pushed the buttons and shouted:  
"Scanner Odd!"  
"Scanner Yumi"  
"Scanner Ulrich"  
Energy spheres enveloped them. They curled up inside and then stretched out.  
"Virtualise"  
The spheres glowed and cracked, releasing the 3 new fighters unto the world.  
Ulrich was dressed as a ninja samurai, complete with a sword at his side and a smaller one just underneath that. On his head he sported a bandana wrapped around his head.  
Yumi was wearing a short kimono like outfit and long white arm sleeves that ended like open finger gloves on her hands. Her hair was pulled into a bun on her head with two strands hanging from it. In her hand was a long thin fan.  
Odd was dressed in a short shirt and long pants that alternated between purple and light purple with yellow shoes. He had two red stripes on his face like Aelita's, but that wasn't the weirdest thing about him.  
"What?" He asked as everyone looked at him. He raised his paw and scratched his head while his tail swung behind him.  
Odd blinked . Paw? Tail?  
"Aah! I'm a cat!" he moaned.  
"I always did say you pussy footed around" Ulrich said grinning.  
"Not now you two" Yumi said, opening up her fan, "We've got company"  
"Aelita! What powers do we have? What powers do I have!" Odd asked.  
"Don't know. You'll have to find out" she grinned at him and ran towards the bugs.  
"Ready Yumi?" Ulrich asked, drawing his swords. "Ready", she said, standing next to him. "Odd?" He said, trying hard not to look to much at Yumi.  
"No, but what the heck" Odd sighed.  
Side by side they ran at the bugs, shouting all the way.  
"Hi-yah!" Ulrich cried, swinging his blades left and right, slicing, stabbing, impaling.  
"Ki-yah!" Yumi cried, slicing left and right, using the edge like a knife.  
"Ai-yah!" Odd cried, dodging the laser fire of the roachers. He tripped and fell.  
Slightly winded, he saw a shadow in front of him. Looking up, he saw the roach standing there, it's laser cannon glowing. "No!" Odd shouted, swinging his arm at it.  
Suddenly a small beam of light burst from his forearm. It struck the bug dead center and it blew up in a cloud of smoke.  
Dumbfounded, Odd looked his forearm. Smiling he stood up and said "Now that's more like it".  
Yumi herself was having problems. The fan didn't have much range on it and she had already received a few scratches from the beasts. She had learned that the fan could reflect their blasts, but against physical attacks it was slightly weak.  
She looked over to Ulrich and saw a bug creeping up behind him.  
"Ulrich!" she shouted, instinctively throwing the fan at it. Buzzing like a sawblade it cut straight through the bug, then flew back to her. She caught it wide eyed, then started smiling. "Come and get it!" she shouted, turning in a circle and tossing it at them.  
Ulrich had already discovered his skill. It seemed that all his natural speed had been double. His arms blurred as he turned the creatures into mince.  
"Ulrich, this is Jeremy, do you read me?"  
"Loud and clear Jeremy, what's up?" he said, slicing a bug in two.  
"Aelita has gotten to the roof of the building and needs your help. Get to her"  
"What about these bugs?"  
"Don't worry" Yumi said, standing next to him. "I've got it covered."  
She was moving her had back and forth, the spinning fan going wherever she pointed.  
Ulrich sheathed his swords and ran full out up the fire escape on the side of the building. He reached the top and stopped. "Jeremy, I think we've got a problem."


	3. Pilot pt3

**Short little update just to finish of Pilot...**

**and then on to the next story. Till Then!**

**Pilot (Ending)**

"Jeremy, I think we've got a problem," Ulrich said.  
He was standing on the rooftop, sword in hand. A few feet away from him Aelita  
was lying on the ground, out cold.  
In front of him a small green bubble was floating, a small tube-like object inside.  
And just behind it, hissing, loomed a massive mechanical beast. It's lower body was that of a snake, while it's upper body had four insectile arms. It's head had a hawk like quality. 5 Red dots stared down at him. Ulrich noticed burns on it's body.  
Ulrich unsheathed his second sword and crouched down into a defensive position.  
Gauging the distance between him and it to the minarette he realized that he wouldn' t be able to reach it before the snake got it.  
'So why hasn't it taken it already?' he wondered.  
The beast hissed at him and dived for the bubble. A bolt of yellow lightning struck out and flung it back. It shrieked in pain, thrashing on the ground.  
Enraged, it sought an outlet for it's pain. Rise slowly, it turned it's attention on Ulrich.  
Tucking it's arms close to it's body the beast rushed towards him, mouth open wide to bite him clean in half. He spun to the side and swung at it as it flew past.  
His blade barely scratched the armour on it's back. Twisting mid-air, the snake fired an energy beam at him from it's mouth.  
Ulrich tried to dodge it, but it clipped his shoulder. He was flung off his feet, falling through the air and hitting the ground hard. Grimacing in pain, he tried to move his arm. No good. It's was completely numb. He looked up and saw the snake coiling itself up for another strike. Hissing in triumph, it launched itself at him.  
"Oh no you don't!" Odd shouted. He seemed to fly up out of nowhere, heading straight for the beast. He struck it's head and drove it into the roof with a crack.  
Jumping off he landed on all four right in front of it just as it pulled itself out.  
Shrieking in fury the snake zoomed in on the creature that had hurt it. It coiled up for a strike when suddenly Odd jumped up at it's face.  
"Laser Arrow!" he shouted, both fist pointed inches from it's face.  
Point blank the two shots hit, hurling it back. "Think that killed it?" Odd asked Ulrich, looking at it where it lay, smoke still curling around it's head.  
Hissing, the beast smacked him with it's tail. Odd sailed through the air. He landed hard on the ceiling and passed out. "Guess not" Ulrich said. He held his sword in his only good arm, trying to think of a way to stop it. Odd's blast had taken away half it's face, but that seem to bother it at all.  
'Only one thing left I haven't tried' he thought, looking towards the still floating orb.  
"Race you!" he shouted and took off at full speed. Hissing in challenge the snake sped after him. Bolts of energy lashed out at them from the bubble, ready to fry any who tried to get to close. Ulrich ducked and weaved through the web of blasts.  
Behind him he heard the beast shriek as it was struck and barbecued.  
Jumping over the last blast he struck his hand out to the bubble, fingers closing around the small object inside. He landed in a roll, smoking slightly.  
He opened his hand and looked at the minarette laying there. It pulsed slowly with power, glowing with a charge of it's own. A sudden shriek broke his reverie, and looking up he saw the snake charging at him again. "Now what?" he wondered.  
The minarette glowed as though in response to his thought.  
When the glow disappeared he found himself looking at 3 other Ulrich's, all standing ready with swords in hands. With a roar they surged forward, meeting the snake head on. It hissed, trying to fight all of them, but they turned out to be too much. Within minutes all that remained were pieces and pieces of pieces.  
Finished, the Ulrichs' walked back to the original Ulrich. "Thanks guys" he said. As one they grinned and saluted before slowly disappearing.  
He smiled himself, then with a groan sat down on the roof. "Jeremy, can you please ask Yumi to come help me with Odd and Aelita? Thanks" he said into his ear piece. "What a night" he thought out loud, wondering what the rest of the year was going to be like.


	4. Ep1: Lyoko

**Ok, time to continue the story. Pt. 2 will be up tomorrow. Till then, Enjoy!**

**Episode One: Lyoko**

"Ooh, my head" Aelita groaned. Slowly she opened one eye, took in her surroundings and sat up slowly in her bed. Sunlight was streaming in from the window. And there, on the spare bed, Jeremy was snoring slightly, arm over his face. She smiled lightly, then grabbed her head as a small headache began.  
'What happened last night?' she wondered. And remembered.  
Her new friends fighting with her.  
The minarette.  
The serpent's fast strike.  
"Hi Aelita, how are you feeling?" Yumi asked, entering the room, cup of tea in hand.  
"Slight headache, but nothing broken" Aelita said, taking the cup from Yumi.  
She sip the slightly minted drink, and felt the pain beginning to fade.  
"Thanks, I needed that" she said, lying back against the bedrest. "So what happened last night" she asked. Yumi started explaining when someone knocked at the door. "Come in" she said.  
"Hey Aelita!" Odd said, walking in. Ulrich came in behind him, closing the door.  
"Here you go" He said, giving Aelita a small brown bag.  
"Stopped by the fruit shop this morning and got something for you"  
"Thanks Ulrich" Aelita said, pulling out an apple.  
"Thank Yumi, it was her idea" he said. Yumi blushed slightly, then looked over at the sleeping form of Jeremy. "Should we wake him up" she asked.  
"Here, let me" Odd said, and before anyone could stop him he jumped up on the bed, then started jumping up and down on top of the bed.  
"Huh! What!" Jeremy went, sitting up and falling off the bed.  
"Morning Jer, have a nice sleep?" Odd asked innocently.  
Jeremie scowled at him as he got up. Seeing Aelilta, he asked how she was.  
"I'm OK. Now, will someone please tell me what happened last night?"  
It took them about an hour to explain everything. Aelita listened thoughtfully, and when they were finished she said, "We'll have to go back."  
"Why?" asked Jeremy. "We didn't close the portal that the roachers and snake came from. It's still open, which means Xana could send more creatures through unless we shut it down."  
"Let's do it then" Odd said, jumping off the bed. Ulrich joined him at the door, Yumi right behind him. Jeremy looked at Aelita and asked "Are you sure your up to this?"  
She grinned at him, threw back the covers, jumped out of bed and said:  
"You better believe it."

"So Ulrich, do you still have the minarette?" Aelita asked as they walked towards the city center.   
"Yeah, right here" he said, reaching into his pocket. He held it up for her, the small object still glowing slightly. "It was glowing like a star last night, but since I used it, it's been like this. The glow's still fading slightly."  
"Don't worry" Aelita said, "It just needs to recharge. Here" she said, pulling up his arm. She pushed a small button on the watch, making a small compartment open.  
"You can keep it in here until it's charged up." "Thanks" he said, storing the minarette and closing the opening.  
"Hey Aelita, what's this minarette called anyway?" Odd asked.  
"From Ulrich's description, I'd say it's the MultiTask minarette. It's basically a copying program, allowing anyone to make copies of themselves."  
"Cool" Odd said, a wistful look in his eyes.  
"No Odd, you're not going to use it to go on dates with more than one girl." Yumi said, making everyone laugh. Soon they reached the building where the battle had happened. Aelita scanned the area, but found nothing.  
"Maybe it's on the roof" Ulrich said. They climbed up the fire escape. There were still signs from the fight last night. Aelita scanned again, then pointed to the eastern most corner. "There" she said. "Where? I don't see anything." Odd said.  
Aelilta closed her eyes, then started singing. The air seemed to ripple, flow then part, revealing the opening. "Oh, _there_" Odd said.  
Aelita stepped up towards the portal and prepared to close it. Suddenly something exploded behind her, flinging her into the portal. "Aelita!" Yumi cried, running forward and grabbing her hand. The portal was too strong though, and they both got pulled in. "Yumi! No!" Ulrich shouted. He ran towards the portal and dived in, Odd following closely.


	5. Ep1: Lyoko Cont

**Final part of Episode One. Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review. Thanks!**

**Episode 1: Lyoko (Continued) **

Down they fell, traveling down a long tunnel with red energy swirling around it.  
A sudden flash of blue light, and they found themselves hanging in midair.  
"Aaah! Oof!" Yumi groaned, falling flat on her back.  
Similar moans came from her left. She look over and saw Ulrich lying close to her, Odd having broken his fall.  
"Are you guys all right?" Aelita asked, offering Yumi her hand.  
"Wind knocked out of me, but nothing serious" she said.  
Aelita pulled her up and together they helped Odd and Ulrich up.  
"Uh thanks Odd" Ulrich said.  
"What are friends for?" Odd weezed. He rubbed his stomach and looked around.  
"So this is Lyoko?" he asked, taking all all the trees and plants around. "I was kinda expecting more. And why are we in our virtual forms?" he asked, looking down on his uniform, tail and paws.  
"First off: Duh, virtual world? We automatically become virtual here.  
Secondly, this is only the Forest Region. There's also the Polar, Dessert and Mountain Regions, as well as the Sky, Water, Lava and Cavern Regions. Oh, and The Core."  
"What's that?"  
"Don't know. I've never been there before. Xana's always got it heavily guarded."  
"I have a question" Ulrich said. "How do we get out?"  
"That's going to be slightly difficult. We have to find the tower that was used to connect the two worlds together and through it get home."  
"But?" Odd asked. "But we might have to fight our way to it" Aelita said.  
"Pfft. No problem" Odd said, flexing his muscles. "Bring 'em on!"  
Ulrich leaned back against a tree and folded his arms. Out of the corner of his eye his saw Yumi standing to one side, deep in thought. "Something wrong Yumi?" he asked.

"What?" Yumi asked, startled.

"Well, it's just... Aelita, I have to ask: Can we die here?"

Odd stopped flexing his biceps and looked to Aelita as well.  
"Uh, yes, and no" Aelita said. Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "You see, usually we would virtualise in the real world before entering a portal. The spheres that change us are like mini portals, storing our information. If we were destroyed here we would be flung back to the real world, to the spot were we changed."  
"But we didn't" Ulrich said. Aelita shook her head. Silence filled the air as everyone realised the danger they were in.

For a few minutes they all just stood there, lost in their own thoughts.  
"Allright, that's it" Ulrich said, stand up from the tree he was leaning on.  
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm all for getting out of here"  
"But we could get, y'know..." Odd said, fear in his eyes.  
"Nothing in life's ever easy Odd. But if we stick together we'll get through"  
"I'm with you" Yumi said, standing next to him. Ulrich felt his cheeks growing slightly hot.  
"Count me in" Aelita said. They looked at Odd.  
He looked back at them, sighed and said "Oh well, let's get this parted started."  
"Guys do you read me?" Jeremy's voice suddenly said.  
"Aaargh!" Odd shouted, jumping up in fright.  
"Jeremy, can you hear me?" Aelita asked as Yumi and Ulrich helped to calmed the white faced Odd.  
"Took sometime to find your frequency. Where are you guys?"  
"We're in Lyoko. There was an explosion and we got thrown into the portal"  
"Anyone hurt?"  
"No. We all OK. We're going to try to get out, but it's going to be a risky run."  
"Hold on for a minute." In the background she heard him typing furiously on his computer. "OK, got a link to the cameras on your earphones. I'll set it to telescopic mode and tell you if I see anything."  
"Thanks Jeremy, see you soon. Hopefully"  
"Ready guys?" she asked, turning around.

"We ready" Yumi said. They started walking into the forest, Odd muttering "I'm going to kill him when we get out..."

They walked for what seemed liked hours, climbing over tree roots, crossing bridges, navigating holes in the ground that opened up into air.  
"Don't fall in, or you'll be virtualised forever" Aelita warned.  
They were taking a break when Aelita scanned the area again.  
"Good news guys. The tower we need is just over that hill" she pointed.  
Her ear piece beeped. "Yes Jeremy?" she said. "Could one of you guys climbed up into the trees? I want to try and see what's lying ahead."  
"I'll do it" Odd said, flexing his paws and releasing sharp claws.  
He jumped up and sank his nails into the bark, steadily making his way up.  
"See anything Jer?" he asked. "One minute" Jeremy said. The camera zoomed out slightly. "Oh boy".  
"What?" Odd asked. "Get back down Odd. I'll tell everyone once your back."  
"Well?" Ulrich asked as Odd dropped down. "I saw 6 of those roaches you guys fought, and two large black balls."  
"Megatanks. This is going to be tough" Aelita said.  
Ulrich unsheathed his swords. "Then let's get started."

They ran up the hill, ready to battle for their lives. "Surprise!" Odd yelled, shooting laser arrows from his gauntlets and taking out 2 roaches. Yumi telekineticly lifted up 2 more, giving Aelita a chance to hit them with her sonic scream.  
Then she and Ulrich took out the last two. They regrouped and faced the Megatanks. The two spheres had just sat there during the whole battle and even now didn't make a move. "Do you think they even know we're here?" Odd asked.  
Suddenly the machines hopped up. The bottom sections opened up like a flower, four powerful legs unfurling out. Upright, they started walking forward.  
"What kinda weapons do they have?" Odd asked.

As if to reply the tanks' top sections pivoted forward then up, revealing a large round eye, much like the symbol on the roaches. Waves of energy built up around the one, and with a shriek it unleashed a massive wave of power.

"Woa!" Odd said, twisting away barely. He looked at the scorched end of his tail and whistled, wide eyed.  
The second one shot of it's one blast at Yumi and Aelita. Aelita crouched down fast and created a white shield, slightly curved. The blast struck it and was redirected upwards.

"Quickly Yumi! Aim for the eye!" she said. "Hiya!" Yumi shouted, throwing her fan at the monster. The tank closed off it's top part just as the fan was about to hit. "Damn!" Aelita said. Ulrich stepped forward and said: "I've got a plan. Be ready Yumi." He touched a button on his watched.

The minarette came out.

"MultiStrike Activate!" he said.  
A flash of light, and four Ulrichs were standing on the field.

"Attack!" one of them shouted, and they rushed towards the tanks. The tanks opened up, cannons already pumping up. Two blast shot out, hitting one of the Ulrichs and blowing him to bits. The other three jumped unto one of them and grabbed it's shielding. "Now!" they shouted.  
Yumi's fan swept up, sliced straight thru the eye and back to her.  
The Ulrichs were flung off as it exploded. Two disappeared, the real Ulrich landing hard on the ground. "Are you OK?" Yumi asked, crouching down next to him.  
"Yeah. Nice going" Ulrich said, blushing. Yumi smiled, blushing as well.  
"Uh guys, one more tank" Aelita said. The beast was walking up to them slowly, charging up with every step. "It looks mad" Ulrich said. He sat up and looked around. "Where's Odd?"  
As one they look towards the Megatank. Sure enough, just behind it Odd was sneaking up to it. Just as it was about to fire he jumped up over it.  
"Laser slash!" he shouted, raking the air in front of him. Six bright lines curved down, smashing the supports for it's top shielding. "Fire in the hold!" Odd said, running to them. The shields dropped down as it fired. With a massive boom it exploded into bits, debris flying everywhere.  
Odd grinned at them. "Go on, you can say it. Whose the man?"  
"Yeah yeah, nicely done. Now let's go home" Ulrich said, standing up.  
He grimaced, clutched his side and stumbled slightly.

"Here, let me help" Yumi said, putting her arms around him.

"Uhm, no it's ok, I can make it" he said, blushing.

"Yeah right" she said, walking him towards the tower where Aelita was waiting.

They entered the tower and headed for the center. A soft white light surrounded them and lifted them to the top platform. A screen appeared and Aelita typed in a command.

Aelita, it flashed, Code: Lyoko.  
"Here we go" she said. With a whoosh a large cloud of white enveloped them and they felt themselves floating in nothing. Suddenly it vanished and they found themselves back on the roof, portal closed. "Home sweet home" Odd said.

As they walked away, the person watching them from across the opposite roof smiled.  
The mysterious person, all wrapped up in a black trench coat, gray scarf and black hat, watched for a few more minutes before walking away.

The unknown person looked up at the sky and said "Sorry for the explosion, but I had to be sure. I'm sure you'd have understood Xander."


	6. Rainy Days pt 1

**Time for the next story. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Episode Two: Rainy Days**

"It's really coming down hard out there" Odd said, staring out of the window.The sky outside was gray, rain falling everywhere. The gutters where pouring water out all over the school, and small puddles could be seen everywhere.  
"I hope Yumi and Aelita can make it" Ulrich said, tying on his shoes.  
knock knock  
"Yeah, come in" Odd said. Jeremie poked his head in.  
"Morning guys, ready for school?"  
"School, yes. Lunch, no" Odd said, looking at the cafeteria and it's growing pools of water.  
They walked down the hall and headed for the classrooms.  
They rounded a corner when a hooded figure ran right into them.Or more preciously Ulrich.  
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his head. "Watch it next time!"  
"Sorry" Yumi said, pulling off her hood.  
Ulrich blushed. "Oh, uh it was nothing" he said, helping her up.  
"Thanks" she said, "Has anyone seen Aelita?"  
"Gangway!" Aelita said, schoolbag over her head. She came to a stop, breathing fast.  
"Lemme guess: slepted late?" Odd said.  
Aelita just nodded, leaning against the wall and trying to catch her breath.  
"Yeah, I didn't even have time to put on my raincoat. I just stuffed it into my bag and jumped into my mom's car. She almost left without me"  
"Yeah, moms can be funny like that" Odd smirked.  
They walking towards their first class for the day.  
They walked into the noisy classroom, made their way past the talking kids to the tables and sat down.  
"Say, shouldn't Mr Herbert be in by now?" Yumi asked.  
"As always, slow on the uptake" a voice said.  
They looked around, Ulrich and Odd groaning."Oh no, not Sissi, it's still morning" Odd said "Come bother us later. After school works for me"  
"Oh Hah hah" Sissi said, flicking a strand of black hair back from her face."I just thought you'd like to know we've got a new teacher. He should be here any minute"  
"Well just don't scare him off like you did this one" Odd said, causing the gang to laugh.  
Sissi glared at them before walking away, her two girl hangons following close by.  
"Who was that?" Aelita asked.  
"That was Sissi. She's the principal's daughter. Always bugging us, or rather Ulrich, about something" Jeremie said.  
Suddenly the room fell quiet. The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard.  
Everyone scramble for a seat as the door started opening.  
"Oops, looks like Sissi was misinformed once again" Odd said.  
The teacher walked in, put her briefcase on the table, looked up, smiled and said:  
"Good morning class, my name is Ms. Kitsun Howlett. I'll be your teacher for the year."

"Wow, that was a great class" Yumi said as they packed their bags for the next class. "Yeah. Ms Howlett sure knows how to spice things up" Aelita said."Remember kids" she heard miss Howlett say, "Be careful in this weather. It might get a little rough later"  
"Oh great" Odd sighed as they walked down the corridor, "Maths next."  
"And what's wrong with Maths?" Jeremie asked, poking Odd.  
The next 3 classes went by fast, and before they knew it it was lunchtime.  
"Uh, what do you think guys?" Aelita asked, looking at the sheet of rain between them and the cafeteria. grumble Odd clutched his stomach.  
"I don't care. Food!" he shouted, and charged out into the rain.  
(gang anime shock faces)  
"I going to get my coat first" Yumi said. "Aelita, I think I might have a spare in left in my locker. Want to come check if it's there?"  
"Yeah!" Aelita said.  
"Hey guys" a voice said behind them. They turned around and saw a boy with brown hair, orange headphones and black eyes standing behind them.  
"Oh hi Chris" Ulrich said offhandedly. "Hi Ulrich, where's Odd?"  
Ulrich pointed out towards the cafeteria. Chris chuckled and said "Same old Odd"  
"Uhm Ulrich, who is this guy?" Yumi asked.  
"Oh yeah. Yumi, Aelita Jeremie meet Chris aka Yoh Fan."  
"Yoh fan?" Aelita asked. "Yeah, because I'm a fan of Yoh from Shaman King" Chris said, while Ulrich was making desperate "No" gestures behind him.  
"What's Shaman King?" Aelita asked. smack Ulrich hit his forehead.  
"What is it? Are you for real?" Yoh fan asked, staring at her.  
"Here we go" Ulrich said, leaning back against the wall as Yoh fan started to tell her all about the wonders of Shaman King.  
Unnoticed a few pools of water began moving closer, flowing together into one big puddle. It slowly inched closer and closer to them.  
"Uh, so let me get this straight." Aelita said "He has a ghost to help?"  
"Yeah, but that's not the coolest thing" Chris said excitedly. "Hey, what's that" he said, pointing to the left. Everyone looked just in time to see a large puddle of water rear up and surge towards them. "Look out!" Chris shouted, pushing Aelita away. The geyser of water smacked into him. It pushed him hard into the wall before curving away, looking for it's original targets.  
"Quick, this way!" Jeremie shouted, pulling Aelita up and running towards a door.  
The water geyser spotted them, and with a gurgle rocketed after them. They ran through the door and flattened themselves just as the water blasted in, ripping the door from it's hinges. It struck the floor, formed a puddle, then soared back up again. "Down the stairs!" Jeremie said, pulling Aelita after him.  
"I take it you have a plan" Ulrich said  
"I hope so" Jeremie said.  
The water spout surged up after them. It smacked against the wall and erupted into 10 smaller geysers, each hitting the wall and then bouncing off, creating a dangerous passage down the staircase.  
"Look out!" Ulrich shouted, grabbing Yumi. She shriek as a geyser flashed by her, missing her head by inches.  
"Thanks" she said. "No problem" Ulrich said, blushing red.  
"There!" Jeremie pointed as they reached the bottom.  
"There?" Ulrich asked, staring at the door that led to the school's electrical room.  
"Get ready" Jeremy said, standing front of the door.  
The smaller geysers reformed into the big one. Slowly it flowed forward, confident in it's victory.  
"Now!" Jeremy as it jumped at them.  
They flattened themselves against the wall as the water spout shot past.  
It struck the door and crashed right thru it, right into the fusebox.  
The gang closed their eyes as a massive flash erupted, coursing through the water, evaporating it.  
"What was that?" Jeremie asked as the crackling subsided.  
"It was a minarrette spawn" Aelita said.  
"You know what that means"  
"Yep. We're off on a little field trip." Ulrich said.


	7. Rainy Days pt2

**Whew, have I been busy the last few days! But now I've finally got a chance to update my stuff.**

**So, here's pt. 2 of Rainy Days, and I'll add pt. 3 up later. Till then, Enjoy!**

**Rainy Days pt.2**

Aelita, Jeremie, Yumi and Ulrich climbed back up the stairs to the school.  
By the time they got back to the school grounds a small crowd had formed around Chris.  
"What happened?" a girl asked.  
"Don't know. Maybe he slipped and banged his head" a boy replied.  
"Is he OK? Should we help him?" another girl asked.  
"OK, OK, what's going on here?". The crowd parted, opening the way for the school's Phys Ed's teacher Jim. At 30, Jim was still as trim and fit as an athlete.  
With his black hair, black eyes and glasses it was easy to see why most off the older girls liked him.  
"It's Chris, Jim. It looks like he's hurt himself"  
"Hmm, probably slipped on the wet hallway. I'd better take him to the nurse"  
He picked up Chris's still form and headed for the Admin building.  
"Man, poor Chris, I hope he's OK" Yumi said.  
"Chris? Who's Chris?" Odd asked. He looked at their faces and saw the look in their eyes. "Ah man, what did I miss?"

"So you think it's a minarette? But how? The last one we found didn't do things like this" Jeremie said.  
"True, but then again it wasn't in Lyoko last time" Aelita replied.  
"Difference?" Ulrich asked.  
"Yep. I think Xana's might using it to try and kill us."  
"I wouldn't say might, I'd say definitely" Jeremie said.  
"So what now? We just waltz right into Lyoko, slap Xana on the wrist and say "Bad Boy"? Odd asked.  
"More or less" Aelita said.  
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go" Odd said, jumping up from his bed.

"Here? What, are we going to swim down to Lyoko?" Odd asked, staring at the school's indoor pool. "You'll see" Aelita grinned.  
"Ready guys?" she asked, holding up her watch. "Ready" they said, holding up theirs. "Virtualise!" On the outside the school's swimming center's window's glowed white-blue for a second. On the inside the gang stood at the edge of the pool and waited for Aelita to open the portal. She closed her eyes, held her hands together in front of her and sang. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi gasped as the pool's surface started to churn and surge, flowing around like a whirlpool. A stream of water shot up and flew towards them. Aelita's voice higher slightly, and just as the waterspout was about to hit her she spread her hands apart.  
The water parted into two separate streams that formed a circle in front of her.  
In the middle of the circle the air pixelated, then opened.  
Aelita stopped singing, opened her eyes and jumped in, followed by Odd, Yumi and Ulrich.

with a splash they landed in water. Yumi, Odd and Ulrich stared around them in amazement. As far as the eye could see crystal blue skies surrounded them along side a massive sea that ranged from light to very dark blue.  
"Welcome to the Water Region" Aelita said.  
"Not all water" Odd said, looking down. A foot beneath the waves lay sand, shifting and swirling in the movement of the water.  
"This is one of the few sandbars close to the surface" Aelita explained while scanning the area for the active tower. "Everything here's underwater, which can be as deep as a few feet to a few thousand - What!"  
"What's wrong?" Ulrich asked.  
Aelita ignored him, moved ahead a bit and started sweeping the scanner on her arm left and right. "Aelita?" Yumi asked.  
"The tower. It's not here. I don't understand" Aelita said, a concerned look on her face.  
"Uhm, I think I know" Odd said. They turned and looked in the direction he was pointing. About a hundred feet away the water had started to form into four spouts.  
The geysers formed into arrow points, bending forwards. Eyes and mouths started to form, giving the impression of snakes, serpents.  
With a shudder eight eyes opened up, and with a watery squeal the four water elementals started moving towards them.  
"It's a trap!" Aelita realised.  
"And we fell right into it" Ulrich said, readying his sword.  
"Then let's get out of it" Odd said. "Laser Arrows!" he shouted and blasted one of the water beasts.  
With splash it's head splattered into bits. "Ha! Gotcha" Odd said, thumbing his nose.  
With a slurping noise the head reformed.

"O-K" Odd said, eyes wide.  
"Any ideas guys?" he asked.  
"I've got one" Ulrich said.  
"Run!"

"'Run' he says" Odd panted, water splashing left and right as he ran, "Easier said then done."  
Ulrich didn't comment as they picked their way through the tricky terrain of shallow and deep areas, the water around their feet and sometimes knees slowing them down even more.  
The four water elementals behind them were steadily getting closer, taking their time and prolonging the chase.  
"Guys! Look!" Aelita shouted, pointing at a small sandy hill ahead of them.  
A circular metal imprinted with the eye symbol rested on top of it, glowing.  
"We have to get to it!" she said, and they started to run a little faster.  
Unfortunately so did the water wurms.  
Realising their prey had spotted an exit they decided to stop playing and turn serious. They surged forward, eating up the distance in a matter of seconds.  
"No!" Aelita cried out as the beasts reared up and prepared to strike.  
Ulrich jumped in front of Yumi, ready to fight to the death when a shadow suddenly flew over him, at about the same time the water wurms's heads exploded into clouds of steam.  
"What?" stunned he looked up, and for a moment thought he saw a winged figure flying into a cloud in the sky.  
"Ulrich! Come on!" Yumi said, pulling him up with the rest of the gang unto the metal platform. A small globe of light floated down, cover them, and vanished.

Ulrich blinked, and found himself staring at a desert, reddish sanding replacing the the blue water that had been there a minute before.  
"Where are we?" he asked, looking around wearily.  
"Desert Region" Aelita said. She sighed a breath of relief and sat down on the ground. "How did we get here?" Ulrich asked, sheathing his sword.  
Aelita pointed to the metal platform beneath them.  
"Transport point, or Channels, as my brother called them. They allow you to travel from one region in Lyoko to another. Lucky there was one close by back in the Water Region or we'd have been toast"  
"Speaking of which" she said, looking up "does anyone know what happened to the wurms? They almost had us and then... splat!"  
"Nope, not a clue" Odd said.  
Yumi shook her head. "Ulrich?" Aelita asked, looking at him.  
"Hmm?" he asked, lost in thought.  
"Did you see anything?" she asked.  
"Uh, no" he said, wondering again if he'd really seen the winged man.  
Beep Beep Beep  
"Huh?" Aelita looked down at her watch. She opened the screen and scanned it.  
"The minarette! It's here!" she gasped, jumping up.  
"The one place you'd never think to look for water. Smart" Odd said.  
"It's close, very close. Come on" Aelita said, and they started off into the wide expanse of sand.


	8. Rainy Days pt3

**Final part of Rainy Days, and the next story will be up tomorrow. It's much better then this one, which I must confess, I had some writer's block on. Oh well.**

**Rainy Days pt.3**

"Man, I could kill for some water" Odd gasped, the upper part of this body slumped forward, feet dragging, leaving long streaks in the sand.  
"Actually, shouldn't it be water could kill for some of you?" Ulrich said, walking besides Odd.  
"I'd drink it before it knew what happened" Odd gasped.  
"Knock it off" Aelita said, hands on her hips and glaring at them in mock anger.  
"This is a virtual world. Things like breathing, hunger and thirst don't exist"  
"Oh spoilsport!" Odd grinned, standing up.  
"Hey, looks like where approaching something" he said, pointing ahead to a strange formation in front of them.  
It looked like a vast rock bowl, raised above the ground by about a foot by a natural rock spire. Inside the bowl there was a small lake of water, constantly swirling around a Tower that glowed red.  
"Now there's something you don't see everyday" Odd said.  
They ran down the hill to a small cluster of rocks.  
"Ok, so how are we going to do this?" Odd asked.  
"There's water there. It's safe to say that there'll be water wurms there" Ulrich said. "And Xana might have defenses of his own around. Remember this is one of his minarettes, so he'll want to make sure we can't get it" Aelita said.  
It was at this point that they noticed that the rocks that dotted the landscape seemed to be a lot closer. And getting closer.  
"Blocks!" Aelita shouted, jumping up and aiming a sonic scream at one.  
The thing's six small spider legs tried to carry it's rocky frame out of the way, but it wasn't fast enough, and with a crack it shattered into dust.  
The remaining four took evasive actions, their long black spider legs darting left and right.  
"Aim for the eye?" Ulrich asked Aelita.  
"Better make that eyes" Yumi said, standing back to back with him.  
The one block stopped and swiveled, stopping on it's third eye that glowed a soft blue. "Duck!" Yumi pushed Ulrich to the ground as the beam shot towards them.  
It hit an outcrop of rocks, instantly covering it in a sheen of glittering ice.  
"Thanks" Ulrich smiled.  
Yumi smiled back and blushed.  
"Man, these things are tricky" Odd muttered, trying to hit one of the scuttling creatures. "Odd, look out!" Aelita shouted.  
"Wha- ?"  
The ice beam hit him and froze him into a statue on the spot.  
Two other blocks took aim and fired a volley of lasers at his helpless form.  
"No!" Ulrich shouted as Odd shattered.  
The next moment a stream of white stars shot out from the ice shrapnel, formed into a ball high in the sky and disappeared in a flash.  
"Ulrich!"  
He looked over to Aelita.  
"It's ok. He's just been devirtualised. He's gone back to the real world" She said.  
Ulrich nodded, stood up and took a better on both his swords.  
"That wasn't very nice" he said at two of the blocks rushing at him.

"Aaagh" Splash!  
Spluttering, Odd dragged himself out of the pool.  
He flopped unto his back, breathing hard. He pressed a button on the mike on his ear.  
"Jeremie, you there?" he asked.  
No answer came. "Jeremie, can you read me?" Odd tried again.  
Silence. "Well that's strange. Wonder what the problem is?"  
He stood up, headed for the door.  
And when he opened it he got his answer.

With a whoosh a small river of knee high water rushed in through the door.  
Odd clung to the door handle to keep himself up as the small river threatened to knock him off his feet. As the flow of water stopped and fell to just below his knees he walked out of the swimming pool hall and stared.  
Above him the clouds were so black it looked like midnight. Around him gutters lay on the ground alongside wires and poles and tree branches, the weight of all the water from the still raining clouds having overpowered them.  
"Well, at least that explains why Jeremie didn't answer" Odd thought to himself.  
"Better get to the school and check up on him" he thought before heading off, his movement slow and steady as he waded towards the buildings ahead.

Back in Lyoko the three heroes stood at the shores of the lake inside of the bowl containing the tower. "This seems to easy" Ulrich said.  
"Want to go first?" Aelita asked, looking for any potential traps in the clear water.  
"No, but I don't think we have a choice" he said.  
"Be careful Ulrich" Yumi said as he took a step into the water.  
Ulrich took a few steps forward. Yumi and Aelita watched, holding their breath.  
"Seems ok" he said.  
With a hard crack a large geyser of water surged up, turned into ice and struck in full in the chest, knocking up back to the lip of the bowl. Yumi helped him back up, and all three stared out at now ice free lake.  
"Well, at least this makes it interesting" Ulrich said.  
"On three?" he asked. Aelita and Yumi nodded.  
"Ok, one, two, three!"

"Hey Jeremie! You up there?" Odd shouted as he climbed up the stairs, streams of water flowing down them. He reached the top and made his way towards Jeremie's room, taking care not to slip on the large patches of water.  
He reached the dorm room and knocked on the door.  
"Go away, I'm not leaving!" Jeremie's muffled voice came through.  
"Jeremie, it's me Odd! Open up!"  
"Odd?" there was shuffle behind the door as if Jeremie was dragging something heavy. The door creaked open, Jeremie's face peering out.  
"Odd! What are you doing here? Where's the rest of the gang?" he asked, opening the door wider.  
"I got thrashed and kicked out. Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita are still busy trying to get to the tower last I saw"  
"I hope they get there soon. I lost contact with you guys a long time ago. You can see why" Jeremie said, waving a hand at his black scorched computer still dripping wet. Above it in the ceiling a large hole sent a few drips of water down.  
"Almost fried me too. All I could do was barricade the door so they couldn't take me with the other kids and wait for you"  
"Well, while we're waiting, how about a game of 'I spy'?" Odd said.

"On three?" Ulrich asked. Aelita and Yumi nodded.  
"Ok, one, two, three!"  
As one they dashed off in separate directions. The water around them surged as three large geyser reached towards them. Skidding left and right, rolling and diving everywhere the three heroes dodged them as best they could.  
Unfortunately not good enough.  
"Yumi! No!" Ulrich shouted as two of the geysers crushed Yumi between them.  
She vanished in a flurry of white pixels as the two geysers re-orientated themselves on Ulrich and Aelita.  
"We're not going to make it!" Aelita said. Ulrich didn't reply.  
Instead he went into a fighting pose and closed his eyes.  
"Aelita, when I give the signal, run"  
"What are you going to-"  
"Now!" he shouted and ran towards the geysers.  
Aelita stared in shock as he ran towards certain defeat when suddenly he started to glow, the glow separating in two and becoming duplicates of him.  
"Go Ulrich, Go!" she shouted as she ran towards the tower.  
The Ulrichs took one the geysers one-on-one, destroying them only to destroy them again as they reformed over and over.  
Aelita reached the tower and walked in, passing straight through the wall.  
She walked towards the center of the tower where a small sphere floated, the glowing minnarette spinning slowly within. She grabbed the sphere in both hands and started singing while pushing at it. She squeezed it harder as she sang until it started to shrink before finally breaking, the minnarette inside dropping into her hands.

Outside the Ulrichs were starting to slow down. Tired out they watched as the geysers reared up, swooped down, break apart and splash them.  
In the real world Yumi, Odd and Jeremie stared in wonder as the water and rain around them froze in place. "Cool" Odd said, flicking a drop next to him. The drop vibrate but held it's form. A bright light started to shine on the horizon and they watched as it came closer and closer.  
"I think it's safe to say Ulrich and Aelita made it" Odd said.


	9. The Night Beast Pt1

**Ok, time for nifty little monster story update for Code Manga Lyoko, and just in time for Halloween!**

**Enjoy!**

**The Night Beast** pt.1

_It sniffed the ground, searching for the scent of its prey. __  
__There! Its nose twitched, picking up the scent of its blood. __  
__Its eyes picked out the glint of moonlight on the drops of blood on the ground. __  
__The prey had to be close. It knew the injury it had done to the prey had been severe. __  
__A sudden rustle in the bushes ahead, a leap followed by a scream..._

"Hey Odd, get up!" Ulrich said, shaking Odd by the shoulder.   
"Ugh..." Odd grunted and rolled over.  
With a Whap! one of Ulrich's pillows smacked him hard on the head.   
"Wha'?" Odd sat up straight, staring around blearily.  
"Get a move on Odd. School starts in 10 minutes"  
"What! Then why didn't you wake me up?" Odd moaned, jumping out of bed. His feet got tangled in the sheets and dropped him flat on his face.   
Ulrich looked up with an exasperated look, shook his head and left.

"Did you guys hear about the attack last night?" Yumi asked them as they stood at the school vending machine during lunch.  
"No. Was it serious?" Ulrich asked.  
"No, just weird. Apparently something attacked and killed a young deer in the city zoo. According to the paper it had been torn to bits and eaten on the spot."  
"Thanks Yumi, I was enjoying lunch" Odd said, grimacing.  
"I wonder what kind of animal could have done it?" Yumi wondered.   
"Maybe it wasn't an animal. You do get pretty sick people out there" Ulrich replied.  
"Hello, didn't you hear what I just said?" Odd moaned.  
Ulrich grinned at Yumi, looked around and asked: "Do you guys know where Jeremie and Aelita are?"  
"I do" Yumi said, smiling slyly. "Jeremie hasn't been feeling very well so Aelita's gone to see how he's doing"

Night time, at the city zoo. The nocturnal animals were up and about while the rest were asleep. Suddenly a roar was heard from one of the enclosures followed by terrified bleating.  
"Quickly! It's coming from the goat pen!" One of the park security officers called, running towards the sounds of fear. He pulled out his flashlight and scanned the inside of the enclosure. "See anything?" his partner asked, running up to his side.  
"No, just a bunch of panicky- Wait! What's that?"  
A large dark shape rushed up to them and leapt. For a second all they saw were two glowing eyes, like a cat's, before it barrelled through them.  
"What was that?" the one guard gasped, pushing himself up from the ground.  
"I'm not sure, but I think we've found our mystery killer" the second guard said, pointing his flashlight at the dismembered remains of two goats.

The next morning everyone was talking about the new attack at the Zoo.   
All morning long, on both TV and Radio there had been reports on the strange beast and its rampage.  
"The Police are still unsure if this is some sort of escaped wild animal or if it's a large predator that's moved in. However, until they've caught it, they advise everyone to take extreme caution, and to not go out at night unless absolutely necessary" Yumi read to the gang as they stood underneath a tree outside the school.  
"Wow, just think. There's some kinda monster cat on the loose, no one can catch. It's after flesh, and soon it might be coming after you!" Odd roared, jumping at Aelita and growling.  
"Oh, it's too early to deal with you" Aelita groaned, shoving her hand against Odd's face and holding him at arms length.  
"Tell me about it. At least you don't have him as a roommate. The stuff I could tell you..." Ulrich said, leaning against the tree.  
"I don't think I want to know" Aelita grimaced, trying to shut off her imagination.  
"Hey, you guys don't think that Xana's behind this, do you?" Jeremie asked.  
"He might be. It could be one of his minions, trying to cause as much trouble as usual"  
"Guess that means the get to take a trip to the Zoo. At night!" Odd said, roar-jumping at Aelita again. Aelita rolled her eyes and sighed before punching Odd in the arm.  
Just then Mr Delmas's voice came in over the speakers.  
"All students please report to the assembly hall. Please head immediately for the assembly hall for an emergency school assembly"

"As of today, we'll be implementing a curfew. Only students that live outside the school are allowed to leave after school is finished. All other pupils will remain here in the dorms until this threat of the animal is over"  
"But sir, I live outside school!" Odd shouted, "I just like living here more!"  
"Very funny" Delmas said, glaring over his glasses at Odd.  
"But my decision remains. Until they've caught this animal, all dorm living pupils will remain in their rooms. That is all"  
"Well, this just makes getting out more interesting, right?" Odd said.   
"Pretend you don't know him" Ulrich whispered.  
"Who?" Yumi grinned.  
"Hah hah" Odd said.

"Sssh! Here he comes!" Odd hissed.  
Everyone froze and hugged the wall, listening intently to the approaching crunches of Jim's footsteps.  
Through the thin line of shrubbery in front of them they saw the periodic flashes of his flashlight as he swung it to and fro.  
A few minutes later his steps dwindled and vanished, and the gang let out the breath they had been holding.  
Odd took a step forward.  
Crack! a branch went off under his foot.  
Everyone stopped dead and stood stock still, waiting breathlessly for signs that Jim had heard it, before slowly, quietly they crawled out from the bushes and ran towards the school gates.  
"I told you getting out would've been much easier if we'd just transformed" Odd said as they started to climb over the gate.   
"Too much of a chance that Jim might see us" Ulrich replied.  
"Not if you'd have allowed me to knock him out" Odd said.  
"Odd, sometimes you scare me" Ulrich grinned, before jumping down to the sidewalk, Odd landing next to him.  
They waited for Aelita and Yumi to join them before heading off down the dark streets towards the city zoo and its new attraction.

They skulked to the back of the zoo's fenced wall, hiding behind the bushes and trees. "Ok, we've only got a few minutes to check it out before Jim starts doing his hall patrols. Ready?" Ulrich said, holding up his watch device.  
Everyone nodded, holding up theirs.  
"Scanner Ulrich!"  
"Scanner Odd!"  
"Scanner Yumi!"  
"Scanner Aelita!"  
"Virtualisation!"   
One of the guards saw a white-blue glow flash near one of the enclosures.   
He walking over and shined his flashlight around. "Hmmm..." he muttered, glancing about before walking off towards the main building for his break.  
From behind the rocks five feet from where he had been standing Odd, Aelita, Ulrich and Yumi glanced out.  
"Whew! That was close" Yumi sighed.  
"Yeah" Ulrich agreed, blushing slightly from being so close to Yumi.  
"Come on, let's go before time runs out"  
They snuck down the enclosures until they reached the scene of the previous nights attack.  
"We'd better spread out and look around" Aelita said.  
She activated her watch and scanned the area. "Hm, no portal. I think it's save to say it's not one of Xana's beasts."  
"You mean I won't get any butt to kick?" Odd asked, fake disappointment in his voice. "Aw, that's not fair!"  
They started to move around the enclosure, making sure not to step in the bloodstained earth or disturb any of the animals inside.  
Yumi was wondering just what they were looking for when the moon came out, bathing the area in white and showing her a large clawed footprint right next to her. "Hey guys, come check this out!"  
"Wow" Aelita gasped, staring down at the large paw print.  
"Still think it's not one of Xana's creatures?" Ulrich asked.  
Aelita scanned the print and shook her head. "Yes. It doesn't read like a digital monster. It very different from them, more organic then energy"  
"Hey, where's Odd?" Yumi asked.  
"I don't know, but I think right now we've got bigger problems" Ulrich said.  
Aelita and Yumi followed his gaze up rock next to him, and saw the large feline form with glowing yellow eyes look down at them, fangs glinting in the moonlight.

With a deep throated roar it pounced, claws extended.  
Aelita's reflexes acted faster then her, throwing up a shield above her and her friends. With a shuddering Twack! the beast smacked the shield hard, bouncing of it and striking a time. It must've hurt itself, because it gave a howl of pain as it landed on the ground. Before it could recover Yumi slammed it with one of her telekinetic blasts, flinging it away from them and into the bushes.  
They waited, weapons ready, staring at the bushes.  
After a few minutes they started looking at one another and walked forward together. Peering through the bushes they found patches of scratched earth, a few spots of blood and nothing else.  
"Now that was a big kitty" Ulrich said, sheathing his sword.   
Suddenly Yumi's eyes went wide. "Oh no. I think it's heading Odd's way!"   
They ran through the enclosure, following the trail on the ground.  
Around a large stone they found a dead end, a wall and...  
"Odd!" they shouted, running up to the unconscious boy.  
His clothing was ripped, one eye was blue and a thin line of blood ran down his pale face from his nose.  
"Odd, come on, wake up. Wake up!" Ulrich shook him.  
"Ul...Ulrich? That you?"  
"Yeah, it's me buddy" Ulrich said, smiling in relief. "What happened?"  
"I don't know" Odd said, sitting up. "I remember looking for clues, hearing something, feeling something hit me. Then nothing"   
"I think the beast must've knocked him over while escaping" Aelita said, pointing at the claw marks running up the wall.  
"Come on pal, let's get you back to school" Ulrich said, lifting him up and supporting him.  
"Aw, but I don't wanna" Odd said wearily as they walked out towards the zoo exit.

Yumi, Ulrich, Aelita and Jeremie discussing the events of the night after they had left the tuckered out Odd to sleep in his room.  
"It was fast, very fast" Ulrich said, "If Aelita hadn't thrown her shield up I don't think we would have made it"  
Aelita nodded, thinking again of those claws flashing down to shred them.   
"Whatever it is, it isn't one of Xana's beasts. All my scans were... weird.  
It does have a slight digital field, but it's definitely more organic then artificial"  
"We've also got something else to worry about" Yumi said.  
"How long do we have before it starts attacking people?"

**To Be Continued Next!**


	10. The Night Beast Pt2

**And now for more thrills & chills with part 2.**

**Read on!**

**The Night Beast **pt.2

It crawled through the bushes in the forest-like area it had found.   
Stopping to sniff the air it caught the scent of likely prey not too far away.   
After its meal had been disturbed last time it was very hungry for a snack. 

"Your right" Jeremie said, leaning back in his chair. "The first few times it ran away from anyone who spotted it. But last night it was bold, very bold"  
"Which means we'll have to find it quick, or else someone's going to get hurt" Ulrich said, staring out the window.

It slunk up to the hedge and peered out. A few yards away its food was walking, talking loudly on a cellphone. Slowly it started to move along the hedge, edging closer and closer for the strike.

"Any idea on how to track it?" Yumi asked.  
"Hmm, I'll have to work on it, but I think by combining Aelita's scanner tech with a sniffer gadget I got from my uncle in the bomb disposal squad, we should be able to get something to help"  
Suddenly a scream ripped through the air. Everyone jumped up and ran to the window. "I think it came from the park!" Aelita said, as they looked out.  
"There!" Ulrich shouted, pointing at a small running figure running towards the school. Just behind the person they saw a large shadow streaking in to catch her.  
"Come on, we've got to help her!" Ulrich shouted, jumping away from the window and pulling open the door.

Panting, growling, it chased its prey, relishing the feel of adrenalin coursing through. Drool flew from it's jowls as it closed in on its meal.  
It saw a large building up ahead, and knew it had to stop the prey from reaching it.  
Extending its claws it dug into the ground and threw itself forward with extra haste.  
Just as the girl ran up to the gate it jumped, easily closing the last few feet in seconds. Roaring in confidence of success it prepared itself for the kill, only to squeal in pain as something hard hit it on the side of its face.  
It looked up and saw the saw one of its previous enemies standing in front of it with a large silver like club. "Not tonight kitty!" the enemy said, lifting up the club.  
Behind him it saw other people running up, too many to take on.  
It gave its foe one last glare before bounding off into the night. 

Ulrich heaved a sigh of relief and dropped flat on the ground, the aluminium bat clanking as it fell next to him. He thought he was about to die when the beast had turned to him. If it hadn't been for the other people scaring it off he didn't think he'd have been able to tackle it.  
Yumi was one of the firsts to arrive, and helped him up. "Ulrich, you just saved that girl's live. You're a hero!" she said, kissing him on the cheek.  
Ulrich was glad it was night, otherwise everyone would have seen how red his face was. After all the praise and thanks he walked back up to his room to check on Odd. "Still asleep" Ulrich smiled, glad to see his friend saw.  
He closed the door and climbed into bed, falling asleep and never noticing the large claw marks gouged into Odd's headrest.

_He ran through the woods, branches slapping against his arms and legs as if trying to hold him back. Behind him he heard a series of rapid footsteps as something chased him. With a snap and crack of twigs he burst out of the trees and found himself in an open area, the moon shining down brightly, so bright that he could see as if it was day. __  
__In the distance a small dot of light called him. He took one step forward, then froze as a harsh growl filled the air. He turned around slowly and found himself staring into large yellow slitted eyes that shined in the dark wood. __  
__Before he could make a move the beast roared out of the trees and -_  
"AAAGH!" Odd screamed, sitting up straight in bed, eyes wide with shock.  
His body was wet with cold sweat and his heart was pounding, trying to get out of his chest. His ragged breathing slowly calmed down.  
"Just a dream, just like the others" he muttered to himself.  
For the past few days, ever since the beast attacks he had been having more or less the same nightmare, always waking up in fear.  
He looked over at Ulrich, who was still fast asleep, and wondered how he slept through it. "Man, he can sleep through anything" Odd grumbled before lying back down and going back to sleep.

"Ok, so why does everyone seem so tired this morning?" Odd asked.   
They were in the cafeteria enjoying breakfast. The air was filled with buzzing in between yawns over the previous night's adventure. Yumi yawned and waved at Ulrich to talk. "Well, you see Odd..." Ulrich said, and told him about last night.  
"What?" Odd said, stunned. "I can't believe I slept through it all"  
"You were pretty beaten up last night" Jeremie said. He lifted up a fork of eggs and gave a large yawn. "Speaking of beaten, I'm beat after last night's work"  
"Did you finish it?" Ulrich asked.  
Jeremie nodded. "Yeah, it's done. Now we just need to see if it works"   
"And then tonight we're going monster hunting" Odd said, grabbing some food off of Ulrich's plate.  
"Hey!" 

It was during Science Class that Jeremie outlined his plan a little more.  
"Ok, during break we'll go to the spot were it was last night. We need to find some hairs of it, which we can use to catch its scent and track it down"  
"Sounds like a "hairy" situation to me" Odd said.  
"Are you sure this isn't just some "hair" brained scheme" he continued, giggling.  
Jeremie groaned at the pun, Ulrich just smiled and rolled his eyes.  
"What are you lot up to?" a voice asked them from the table opposite.   
They looked across at Sissi glaring at them, arms crossed.  
"Why? What's it to you?" Odd asked, an eyebrow arched.  
"Don't think I don't I know what you're up to" she said with an air of victory.  
"That's right, you don't know. So butt out" Odd said.  
"Ahem" a voice said behind them.  
They turned around to the teacher standing behind them, tapping one foot and glaring at them.

"Ouch!" Aelita yelped as a branch smacked her in the face.  
"Sorry!" Jeremie blushed.  
"Are you guys sure the cat ran this way?" Odd asked, pushing apart branches.  
"Yeah. After I smacked it it turned and dived in here" Ulrich said, scanning the branches and ground. "Look, see that?" he said, pointing to a clawprint next to a series of cracked branches. "It came in here and ran out that way"  
"Yeah, but isn't the school dorms in that direction?" Odd asked.  
"Hey, you're right" Jeremie said. "Good thing it didn't try and hide away in there.  
And now" he said excitedly, standing up, "It won't be able to hide at all".  
In his hand was a large clump of furry material, glistening a dark purple color.  
Back at Jeremie's room they watched as he pulled out a small box shaped object with a computer screen on top.  
"Now to put the fur in here and..."  
The machine's computer came on, and a series of numbers ran through it.   
"Hmm, according to the machine it's going to take it at least till late evening to get a good clear scent"  
"Ah, what're we going to do till then?" Odd moaned.  
"Uh, get back to class before break is over?" Aelita said sarcastically.  
"Oh yeah, forgot about that" Odd said, smiling sheepishly.

"Odd, you idiot, don't fall asleep!"  
"Wha-?" Odd asked muzzily, blearily opening his eyes.  
"Don't forget" Ulrich said, "We've only got to wait 10 more minutes before the machine's ready to start sniffing"  
"Don't worry, I'll be zzzz..." Odd's head slumped down unto his chest.   
"Oh brother..." Ulrich muttered, shaking his head.  
He stood up and left Odd to snore on his bed, heading down the hall to Jeremie's room. "Hey Jer, how's it going?" he asked, sticking his head in through the door.  
"It's almost done" Jeremie said, staring down at the machine.   
"Three... two... one..."  
Beep!   
"It's ready!"  
"Great. I'll go wake up Odd and we'll join you guys outside" Ulrich said.  
Suddenly the machine started beeping wildly.  
"I don't believe it!" Jeremie gasped.  
"What?" Aelita asked.  
"The beast is here in the building. According to the machine it's only a few feet away".

"Hey Odd, you up and ready?" Ulrich asked as he pulled open the door, only to see Odd's body twitched, arching and snapping around on his bed.  
"Odd!" Ulrich shouted, running up to his friend's side.  
Odd's face was contorted in agony, his mouth open in a silent scream.   
Suddenly his eyes popped open and he snarled at Ulrich.  
Ulrich jumped back, staring in shock at Odd's yellow slitted eyes and long fangs in his mouth. Odd gave a snarl and suddenly yelped like a cat, grabbed his head and fell to the floor. Ulrich watch helplessly as a large patch of purple fur sprouted and grew all along Odd's hands and arms, running down to his body.  
Odd staggered up to his feet, the full moon outside gleaming on his fangs and claws, looked at Ulrich in fear and said in a low gravely voice "Urricch... hellp..."  
before his face suddenly grew outwards with a wet crack.  
Another series of cracks followed, twisting his body until it was twice its length, deeply muscled, on four legs like a tigers and covered in deep dark purple fur.  
"Odd.. no" Ulrich said in hushed tones as he watched his friend turned beast rear his head, give a deep throated roar before turning and jumping out through the window, falling to the ground in a rain of shattered glass.

**Concludes Next!**


	11. The Night Beast Pt3

**Here's the finally! I hope you enjoyed the story,**

**and Happy Halloween everyone**

**The Night Beast **pt.3

Ulrich stood in shock, staring at the broken window in front of him.  
He was so shocked that he didn't even hear Yumi, Aelita and Jeremie barge into the room.  
"Ulrich?" Yumi asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"   
"Odd. It's Odd" Ulrich said. "He's the beast"  
"Odd? But how?"  
"It must be his Lyoko form" Aelita said. "Something in its programming must've gotten corrupted somehow, but even then it shouldn't have reacted like this unless..."  
"Unless what?" Jeremie asked.  
"Later. Let's find him quickly before he can do any more damage" Aelita said, looking at the window. "Or before he kills someone" 

Rage and anger coursed through it. It had been denied its meal too often, and now, mad with hunger it desperately started searching for food.   
But where?  
The park had little sustenance, only mice, rats, rabbits.  
The large building behind it. No, too many enemies too disturb it.   
Where? Where? Where?  
Confusion, fear and hunger swept through its mind, only to be replaced by an image, a small building, a small group inside.  
Food. Shelter. Perfect.

"Hey, what's going on up here? Where do you think you're going?" Jim asked as Yumi, Aelita, Jeremie and Ulrich ran past him.  
"No time to explain Jim!" Jeremie shouted as they ran down the stairs.  
"Hey, get back here! Hey!" Jim shouts followed them as they ran out of the school and into the schoolyard.  
"Ok Jeremie, where'd he go?" Aelita asked, scanning the wide open space of the school. "Give me a sec... Got it!" Jeremie said as he held up the now beeping sniffer device he had build.   
"Looks like he went off in that direction" he said, pointing to the left.  
They ran down trail, following the machine's beeps until they came to one of the walls surrounding the school.  
"Jeremie, I think you'd better stay here. If Odd does attack us we can at least defend ourselves." Aelita said.  
"Yeah, I know" Jeremie said, dejection in his voice.  
"Here" he said, giving Aelita the sniffer. "You'd better hurry"   
"Will do" Aelita said. "Ready guys?" she said, holding up her watch.  
Yumi nodded, Ulrich stayed silent, head down.  
"Ulrich?" Yumi asked, standing next to him.  
"I can't do Yumi. I can't fight my best friend"  
Yumi put a hand under his chin and lifted up his face, looking straight into his tear filled eyes.  
"Hey, don't worry. We'll get him back, I promise"  
"How can you be sure?" Ulrich asked.  
"Because we're heroes. And because Odd has a friend like you.  
Now, are you coming, or what?"  
Ulrich smiled and held up his watch.

A few blocks away, in the suburbia region, at the house with the post box "Robbia", a large feline-like shape was slowly slinking closer and closer.  
Yes, this is the place. Food. Shelter. And more.  
It was like this place was pulling him. Confused, it tried to figure out this feeling.  
Why was it here? Food of course. Or was it?  
Shaking its head it regained its bearings. Yes, food. Food now, and nothing more.

Side by side, running as fast as their legs could move Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita ran down the streets, tracking Odd's scent.  
"How far to go Aelita?" Ulrich asked.  
"According to the machine" Aelita puffed, "Just two more blocks"   
"What! Oh no..."  
"What?" Aelita asked, stopping.  
Yumi looked at Ulrich before turning to Aelita.  
"Odd's family lives in that direction"  
"You don't think he'd..." Aelita gasped, staring in horror at Yumi.  
"In his state he might" Ulrich said, "Come on, we'd better get there fast!"  
"You guys go, I'm going to try something else" Aelita said.  
"You're leaving us? Why?"  
"You'll see" Aelita said, already running off back down the street.   
"Just keep him busy for a while until you get my signal!"  
"What signal!" Ulrich shouted, but she was already gone.  
Ulrich sighed, turned to Yumi and said "Yumi, climb on my back and hold on. We're going to have to move fast"

"Hey Mom, I think there's something out there" Gina said, pointing out of the kitchen window. Mrs Robbia walked up to her daughter and glanced out into the backyard. "Where?"  
"It looked like a big cat, over by the bushes"  
Squinting her eyes Mrs Robbia said "Well, I don't see anyt-" just as a large form blurred across the yard and jumped straight at the window and its occupants.

Aelita ran down another street, stopping to check her watch's readings before turning left and continuening on until she'd reached one of the large mobile phone signal poles of the city. She stood before it, placed her hands together and started to sing. In front of her the air started rippling, blurring before pixelating.  
She flung her hands open, splitting the air and forming a portal to Lyoko, a tower's base right in front of her.

"Daniella, take Gina and Tommy and run!" Mr Robbia shouted, swinging a golf club in front of him. Growling the black beast slowly moved closer, keep outside of the man's swings. "What about you?" Mrs Robbia shouted, holding her two children close to her. "Forget about me, just GO!" he roared, lunging forward and taking a huge overhead swing at the monster's head.  
Only it was the beast's bulk that hit him, smashing hard in the chest before flinging him back to smack against the wall. "Daddy, no!" Gina cried as the beast lunged forward, claws outstretched for the kill.  
"Odd, No!" Ulrich tackled his monstrous friend in mid-air away from the fallen father. Together they landed in a heap in the living room, Ulrich jumping away before a slash from Odd nearly decapitating him.   
Behind him he could hear Yumi helping the Robbia's to escape.  
"Look Odd, don't do this. Fight it" he said, staring deep into the large yellow eyes of his bestial pal. "I know you're in there. Come on, fight it!"  
With a roar the beast jumped, snapping its fangs together on Ulrich's body.  
Or would have had Ulrich not jumped out of the way.  
"Sorry Odd, but you've left me no choice" he said, pulling his sword, sheath and all from his belt. "I won't kill you, but I will stop you" he said, going into a warrior stance. Tail flicking wickedly the beast regarded him before jumping back and jumping unto the wall and hanging there, using it's claws to dig in deep, before climbing like a spider up to the roof and lunging down at Ulrich.  
It happened so fast that Ulrich barely had time to swing up, smacking it right on the nose, the wood hitting it with a hard crack!.  
Yelping the beast dashed to side, up to the wall and crawled around a corner.   
Ulrich ran to catch him before he escaped only to get hit by the cunning beast, hiding away behind the edge to jump out and tackle.  
Grunting, Ulrich struggled to keep its spittle-coated fangs away from his face.   
Suddenly with a whack! an invisible force threw it off Ulrich and back to the living room. "You Ok?" Yumi asked, standing in the doorway.  
"Yeah. Thanks"  
"Anytime" Yumi smiled at him.  
Ulrich felt himself blush, but quickly got back up and opened his scanner watch.  
"Minarrette activate!" he said. The minarrette glowed, enveloped him in green energy before splitting up into four exact copies who ran forward and tackled the monster, pinning him to the ground, holding him tight as he roared and twisted.  
"That should him" Ulrich said, just as a row of bony spikes erupted from Odd's legs and shoulders and impaling copies, destroying them in a heartbeat.  
Standing up, looking stronger and deadlier then ever it slowly walked towards them, the growl in its throat building up with each step.  
Ulrich and Yumi prepared themselves for the fight of their lives.  
Suddenly the Beast stopped, its eyes glazed. It shuddered before dropping to the floor, shivering. Ulrich and Yumi watched in amazement as the claws, fangs, spikes and fur slowly disappeared, the bones reducing and reshaping before finally leaving Odd on the floor, back to normal.  
"Hey guys!" Aelita's voice suddenly came in over their mikes. "Get ready!"  
"For what?" Ulrich asked, just as the white wall of return time caught him and Yumi and flung them back to the past.

"Ta-da!" Aelita said, pulling out the minarette from Odd's scanner.  
"Right under our noses, and we didn't have a clue"  
"So I had this all the time?" Odd asked, holding the small tube like object in his hand. "Yep" Aelita nodded. "I never did check my brothers other watches for minarettes since he kept most of them in Lyoko and only had the most important ones in his. I think the activation of the watch must've started it up, slowly building up until it had the power to activate fully. And with Odd being like a cat it was more easier for it to influence him"  
"Beast program huh? Cool!" Odd grinned, placing the power object back in its holding place. "At least that explains the weird dreams I've been having"  
"Odd, you always have bad dreams" Ulrich said.  
"How would you know, Mr Earplugs?"  
"Finally caught on huh?"  
"Oh, that does it!" Odd shouted, grabbing a pillow.

**The End**

**Next Up: Yumi's Bad Day(s)**


	12. Yumi's Bad Days Pt1

**And now for a really interested new story in the series of Code Manga Lyoko.**

**Believe me, you don't want to miss:**

**Yumi's Bad Day(s) **pt.1****

"Uugh, what a way to start the day" Yumi thought, grimacing as her stomach cramped painfully again. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much last night" she muttered as she stumbled to the bathroom and showered, got dressed and went to grab some breakfast.  
"Good morning Yu- Oh, Honey, what's wrong?" Mrs Ishiyama asked as Yumi rubbed her stomach, grimacing.  
"Nothing Mom, just an upset stomach. I think last night's dinner isn't sitting to well with my stomach"  
"It's not too bad, is it? If you want, you could stay at home today"  
"No, it's fine. I'll just take something for it. I'll be ok" Yumi said, smiling while hiding the pain, grabbing some anti-acid tablets from the medicine box.  
"Bye Mom, see later!" she yelled as she left the house.

"Urgh, what is up with my stomach?" Yumi grimaced as she walked in through the gate, one hand still clutched to her aching stomach.  
"Hey Yumi!"  
She looked up and saw Ulrich waving at her.  
"Hi Ulrich" she smiled. "Where's the rest of gang?"  
"Ah, there in my room, trying to get Odd to wake up"  
"Let me guess: Late night Nintendo?"  
"Yep" he grinned. Suddenly another cramp lanced through her, causing her flinch.  
"Hey, are you ok?" Ulrich asked concerned, one hand on her shoulder.  
Yumi felt the beginnings of a blush form on her cheeks and quickly pulled away.  
"Yeah, just a stomach bug" she said, trying to act casual.  
"You sure?" Ulrich asked concerned.  
"Yes I'm sure. Let's go and help Jeremie and Aelita"  
"OK" Ulrich said, still uncertain.  
"Look, I'm fine, alright! Just drop it, OK?!" Yumi snapped, straightening her bag before walking off to the dorms, leaving a stunned Ulrich behind to catch up.

"Hi Yumi, welcome to mission impossible" Aelita grinned, waving a hand at the stretched out snoring body of Odd, shaking left and right as Jeremie shook him.  
"This is crazy! No matter what we've tried, nothing seems to wake him" Jeremie said, pushing back his glasses.  
"Any ideas?"  
Before Yumi could reply another sharp spike stabbed her gut.  
"Yumi?" Aelita stepped closer. Yumi pushed her away and growled "I don't have time for this" before reaching down, grabbing Odd and picking him.  
"Hey, wake up! Wake up now!" she shouted, shaking him hard before throwing him down unto the bed.  
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Odd muttered. He got up and grimaced.   
"Ow! What's with my neck?"  
No one answered him. Ulrich, Aelita and Jeremie just stood with open mouthed shock and stared at Yumi.  
"What?" she snarled before turning around a leaving.

"What's wrong with me?" Yumi thought as she listened with a half an ear at what the teacher was saying. "This stomach thing is making me all kinds of cranky.   
Oh great, and now I've got to go to the toilet"  
She lifted her hand and waved, catching the teacher's attention.  
"Uh, excuse me sir, can I be excused?"  
The walk to the bathroom was in pain, sitting down was a pain, and then, as she got up and turned to flush the toilet, her eyes widened in shock.

"Ah, that explains why you've been like this all morning" Aelita said, sitting next to Yumi in the nurse office.  
"Yeah, I didn't even know my period was due" Yumi said, still slightly white face from shock.  
"And I was still too asleep this morning to have noticed it while showering"  
"Well, at least now you know" Aelita said, patting her on the hand.  
"But now Mom's coming to pick me up. She actually got the Principal to excuse me for the day."  
"She's just looking out for you"  
"I know, but sometimes it feels like she doesn't believe I can do anything!"  
Yumi snarled, clenching her fist.  
Aelita glanced down at her watch. "Rats, I gotta go. Visit later at your house?"  
"Please" Yumi smiled, watching as Aelita walked out of the room and waved before closing the door.  
"Argh, why doesn't anything ever go my way!" she growled, both hands clenched in fists, face contorted in rage.  
A sudden crack, like glass breaking, cut through her anger.  
Startled she look around. Seeing nothing she reached down, grabbed her bag and left for the principal's office, never noticing the series of cracks running all over the window behind her.

Continues in Part 2!


	13. Yumi's Bad Days Pt2

**The drama and suspense continues in part 2 below.**

**Read on!**

**Yumi's Bad Day(s)** pt 2

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry!"  
"It's OK mom, really"  
"No, I should have guessed that it was your period causing this pain" Mrs. Ishiyama said as she drove down the road.  
"The signs were there this morning"   
"Hey, I didn't even know, and I'm the one suffering" Yumi said, slowly but surely starting to grow angrier and angrier.   
'If only she'd shut up and leave alone for five minutes!' Yumi thought.  
"Well, at least now we know what's been upsetting you" Mrs Ishiyama smiled, turning left at the corner. "All you need now is a few days rest, and you'll be back to normal"   
"Mom, I'm not sick you know! It's just a stupid biological process, Ok!"  
"Now that's the hormones talking-"   
"No, this is me! I'm not a little girl anymore, Ok? So stop treating me like this! I've got my own life, so I'm going to school, to town, to.. to.. to anywhere I want to, and if you don't like that-!"  
Suddenly there was a loud Bang! and the car lurched to the side.  
White faced with shock, eyes wide, Yumi grasped the seatbelt over her chest and held on for dear life as her mom wrestled the car to the side of the road, coming to a screeching stop that flung them both towards the windscreen, stopped short by the lifesaving seatbelts.  
"Oh God that was terrifying! Yumi, are you ok?"  
"I, I'm ok mom, but what happened?" she asked as her mom climbed out to check the car.  
"Looks like the tire blew" Mrs Ishiyama said, staring at the front tire on her side, popped to shreds. "Both tires" she said, shaking her head in disbelief as she saw the back wheel also torn and ripped.  
"And you're father told me he'd replaced them just last week..."

"Both tires blew? That's impossible! Those tires were brand new. I even still have the receipt from when I had them bought.  
Were you and Yumi hurt?" Mr Ishiyama asked, sitting next to his wife in the living room, two cups steaming tea close to them.  
"No, we're ok, but Yumi and I did have an argument..."  
'Oh sure, blame me' Yumi thought, closing her door to her parents talk.  
As soon as the tow truck had brought them home she had rushed upstairs, showered and locked herself in her room, not wanting to continue the conversation she'd had with her mom.  
Her dinner had been brought up ('At least she cared enough to walk up to here' Yumi thought) and now lay on the floor next to her bed.  
"Sounds like you had quite a day" Aelita's voice came in over her cell.  
"Yeah" Yumi said, flopping down on her bed, already dressed in her sleeping gear. Staring up at the ceiling she asked how school had turned out. "Oh, the usual. Odd fell asleep during all the classes, Jeremie was a model student, and Ulrich had to dodge Sissi all day. She was after him like crazy"   
"Sissi..." Yumi growled, clenching her jaws in anger.   
"Hey Aelita, do me a favor?"  
"Yeah?"   
"When you see Sissi, tell her this for me: Run or die. And tell her it's from me" "Sure thing" Aelita laughed. "See you tomorrow?"  
"If mom allows me. Otherwise I'll just sneak out"  
"Your a bad girl Yumi, but that's why we love you. Bye!"  
"Bye" Yumi said, disconnecting the call.  
Sighing, she dropped an arm over her face, trying to calm down and not think about Sissi or her mom's interfering with her life.  
Suddenly a sharp pain seared through her head.  
"Aargh!" Yumi grimaced, gripping her head.   
After a few minutes the pain subsided, leaving her gasping and covered in sweat. "Thanks for the migraine mom" she mumbled, climbing into bed as the papers, stuffed toys, desk and pens dropped down to the ground, the cupboard rocking slightly from being moved.

Beep Beep Beep Bee-  
"Shut up!" Yumi growled, slamming her hand down on the alarm clock.  
Rubbing her tired red eyes she glanced at the time: 06:30am.  
Groaning, she flopped back on her bed and pulled her bed covers over her head.  
She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Thoughts and images about Sissi and Ulrich and her mom had plagued her all night long, as well as the occasional head or gut pain.  
Grumpy, irritated, she dragged herself out of bed and shambled to the bathroom, opened the taps, filled the bath until it was full of steaming water, undressed and climbed in.  
"Much better..." she muttered, relaxing as the hot water help unwind her tight muscles.  
"Ngh!" she grimaced, clutching her stomach.  
'Better try to keep it in, otherwise Mom will never let me out' she thought, stroking her stomach. 'And if I don't get out, I'll go crazy'  
She washed hair, ducked underwater to clean off the suds, and resurfaced, wiping some water off her face. "Ouch!" she moaned as some suds dripped into her eyes. "Aargh! Where'd I leave that towel?" she grumbled, hand flailing along the floor. On the wall next to her a towel suddenly flew off and landed in front of her hand.  
"There you are" she said, picking it up, wiping off her face before climbing out.

"Hi Yumi, how're you feeling today?" Her mom asked, poking her head into her room.  
"Much better Mom" Yumi smiled, pulling on her shoes. "I think it's over, so I'll be able to go to school today"  
"Are you sure honey?" Her mom asked, a worried look on her face.  
"The doctor said it could last at least for 3 days, or 7 at the most. Maybe you should stay for one day more, just in case?"  
"No, really Mom, look I'm- Nngh!" Yumi grimaced, grabbing her stomach.  
"Oh no, not now!" she moaned.  
"Oh Yumi, I knew this was going to happen. You're not going anywhere but to bed.  
"But Mom, I have to-"   
"You have to get in bed" Her mom said, walking towards her bed and kneeling down, untying her shoes and dumping them on the floor before pulling up the covers and making sure Yumi was lying down.  
"Don't worry. I'll phone Principal Delmas and tell him you won't be in today.  
And then I'll bring you some tea. Ok?"   
Yumi just stared at the roof. Her mom patted her hand before getting up and leaving the room, closing the door behind you.  
"Oh Yumi, if only you realised that I'm only doing this to help you" she sighed, before heading down stairs.

On her bed, Yumi lay and frowned, fuming, growing angrier and angrier.  
"How dare she?How dare she?" Yumi thought, clenching her fists.  
"She doesn't know what it's like at my age. She doesn't think I can take care of myself. She still wants to treat me like I'm her 6 year old little girl, weak and pathetic."  
Yumi shut her eyes, clenched her jaws, her fists shaking in anger.  
"If she doesn't let me do what I want to do, I'll never be able to do anything.  
And I have to get to school. Who knows what Sissi's up to, trying to get to Ulrich.  
She's probably flirting with him right now!"  
All around her room stuff started rattling, bouncing, swirling.  
Around her body a glow started to form, pulsing, beating like a light.  
"Well, I've had it! I've had all I can stand! I'm going out, and she's not going to stop me!"   
"Aaargh!" Yumi screamed as a massive spike of pain lanced through her head.  
She grabbed her head, the pain only increasing her rage.

"Aaargh!"  
"Yumi?" Mrs Ishiyama gasped as she heard the pain filled scream coming from upstairs.  
"Yumi!" she shouted, running up the stairs to her daughter's room.  
"Honey, what's wrong? Yumi, answer me!" she shouted, knocking on the door.  
CRACK! the door exploded, the shockwave slamming into her and slamming her in turn against the wall, the impact leaving cracks on the surface.  
She slumped to the ground, unconscious, laying sprawled amongst pieces of wood from the demolished door. The small chips of wood and dust moved as a soft breeze flowed out of Yumi's room, and then, glowing brightly, her eyes two white orbs and her hair bellowing as if by a wind, Yumi floated out of her room.  
She didn't even glance as she floated down the stairs and headed to the front door, blowing it to bits as well.  
"Nothing... nothing's going to stop me" she growled.

Concludes in Part 3!


	14. Yumi's Bad Days Pt3

**And now for the finally, nail bitingly exciting conclusion to:**

**Yumi's Bad Day(s)** pt3

Lunch time at Kadic, and Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie where lounging around in Jeremie's room, waiting for Aelita.  
"Hey Aelita, so how's Yumi doing?" Ulrich asked as she walked in.  
"Well, she was a bit upset last night when I talked to her, about not being able to come to school" Aelita said as she sat down.  
"And she definitely wasn't too happy about Sissi chasing after you"   
"You told her?" Ulrich said worriedly.  
"Of course" Aelita said, arching an eyebrow, "Why wouldn't I?"   
"Because now she's going to give me hell over it when she gets back" Ulrich moaned, already picturing the scolding he was going to get.  
"Actually, Sissi's the one whose going to get it" Aelita grinned.  
Suddenly Kiwi started barking like mad at the window. Odd stood up and grabbed him, looking out of the window to see what had set the dog off.  
The moment he looked outside his eyes went wide.

"Boy Aelita, when you're right, you're right" he said.  
"What're you talking about O-" Aelita gasped as she stared out of the window and saw Yumi floating towards the school, body glowing and hair whipping all around her face.  
She stopped, scanned the school before flipping back her head and shouting:  
"SISSI!"   
With a rumble the ground beneath her crack and expanded away, forming a crater around her, the pieces of rock floating around her like small planets around a sun.  
"Oh, this is just going to get nasty!" Odd whistled, slowly moving back from the window.   
"What're we going to do?"  
"What do you think?" Aelita said, holding up her watch, "We've got to stop her"   
"But people will see who guys!" Jeremie said   
"Unfortunately there's no other way"  
"Maybe there is"  
He reached out and grabbed her arm, and with a "May I?" removed her watch from her wrist. "I've been going through your brother's studies, and found something that might be useful". He opened the watch and pressed a few buttons until the watched beeped and flashed green.  
"There!" he said, handing Aelita her watch back.  
"You'll be able to use your powers now, but only at half strength. Full powers need the transformed form. And you might be able to use the minarettes, but I'm not too sure.  
Don't try to unless you really have to"   
"Better then nothing" Odd said as he took back his modified watch.  
"Good luck guys" Jeremie said as he gave Ulrich back his.  
Suddenly everyone grabbed their heads as a voice roared "SISSI!" inside their minds.  
"Cause you're going to need it. Big time"

"Where are you hiding, you little-?" Yumi growled, eyeing the school.  
"Well, if you don't want to show yourself..." she grinned. Raising her arms up high she closed her eyes, slowly opened her hands and then swooped them down, pointing right at the building. Around her, the little stones and rocks that had been rotating around her froze before flying straight at the building, whistling as they flew through the air before impacting against the concrete walls.  
Walls cracked, glass shattered, doors splintered under the assault.  
"What a chicken!" she snarled, scanning the damage and not seeing Sissi anywhere.  
"Right then, if you play it like that..."   
She rose up a bit more, and started closing in towards the school.

Ulrich, Aelita and Odd had been running down the hallway in the classes when Yumi's barrage struck. They ducked behind the shield Aelita quickly threw up, watching the sharp stones and gravel bouncing away inches from them.  
"Aelita, do you have any idea how Yumi's doing this?" Ulrich asked.  
"It's her period. The hormones are mixing with her powers, and made them unstable.  
Their evolving, and when you combine that with the mixed emotions she's been having, well, you get that" she nodded at the shrapnel attack.  
"Any idea on how to stop her?"   
"Calming her down is one way" Aelita said.  
"Good luck with that idea" Odd said.  
"The only other thing is to get her watch of her.  
"Another other near impossible option?" Odd asked.  
"Yeah. Knock her out, or kill her" Aelita said as the barrage finally stopped.  
"Don't even consider that option" Ulrich said as they stood up and continued on their way. "Leave her to me. You two try and get Sissi away while I distract her, ok?"  
"Us helping Sissi, know I've seen everything..." Odd grinned as he headed towards the stairs. "Odd, wait!" Aelita said. Odd halted half way up as Aelita turned to Ulrich and said, "Ulrich, there's something you should know..."

"Sissi! Oh Sissi!" Yumi shouted innocently, floating over some debris left from her attack.  
"Where are you?"  
She stopped at a classroom, listening to the frightened whispers and mutters.   
With a crack she rip the door off telekineticly before throwing far out in the courtyard.  
Inside wide eyed fearfully faces stared at her, some crying, others white, others hidden behind hands or backs of others.  
"Hello, is Sissi in here?" she asked politely, her glow illuminating the room.  
The teacher gasped in shock. "Oh God, Yumi, is that y-?  
"IS-SISSI-IN-HERE?" she shouted without moving her lips, making everyone inside cringe in pain, causing the roof to crack. "N-no, s-she isn't. Please, don't hurt us..." begged at the strange glowing girl scowling at him. But she already lost interest, floating off towards the next room.  
She stopped at the door. Inside people screamed and shouted, having listen to what had happened next door and fearing for their lives.  
She was just about to rip the door open when someone shouted "YUMI!" behind her.

Ulrich ran down the stairs, skipping them two and three at a time, his mind racing with what Aelita had told him, racing with thoughts on how to calm Yumi.   
He had a few choices, and right now only one seemed to be the best...  
He burst out of the doors just in time to see Yumi fling a class room door away and move inside the room, followed by screams.  
He moved out to the courtyard, and as she left he shouted as loud as he could:  
"YUMI!"

"Hope he knows what he's doing" Aelita said, peeking out over the edge of the window.  
Next to her crouched Sissi, and next to her Odd.   
Sissi's face was streaked with two long rows of tears, her whole body trembling in fear.  
When they had found the girl she had been huddled under a desk she had dragged to a corner, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, eyes closed and crying, white faced with fear.  
"Yeah, hope he doesn't mess up" Odd said, glancing out as well.  
"Come one, let's go while he's got her distracted" Aelita said, grabbing hold of Sissi's hand as they crouch-ran along the bottom of the windows.  
When they reached the doors Sissi squeaked, pulling away from Aelita.  
"NO! I'm not going outside! If I do, she'll get me!"  
"Gee, I wonder why she'd do that to a innocent girl like you" Odd said sarcastically.  
"Odd, not know" Aelita glared. Putting a hand on Sissi's shoulder she said soothingly:"Don't worry, we'll be ok. As long as we stay out of sight and move fast we'll make it"   
"No!" Sissi said, shaking her head violently. "She'llgetme, she'llgetme, she'llgetm-!"  
Whap! Odd slapped the hyperventilating girl through the face.  
"Stop that!" he said as Sissi stared at him in surprise, "Pull yourself together! Is this how Sissi, the Diva of the School, would act?"  
"No..." Sissi muttered sheepishly, still rubbing her cheek.  
"Good" Odd said, taking her hand, "Now just stay close to me, OK?"  
Sissi nodded, "Uh, Odd?"  
"Yeah?" he asked, glancing back.  
"Thanks" she smiled. He smiled back, and her gave her hand a squeeze.  
"Here we go"

"Hello Ulrich, do you know where Sissi is?" Yumi asked, floating out towards him.  
"Sorry, no idea where she is" Ulrich said, standing causally, hands in his pockets.   
"Well, when you see her, you'll tell me right away, won't you?"  
"Sure"  
Yumi stared at him suspiciously. "You're not trying to protect her, are you?"  
"Of course not. Why would I?"  
"I don't know, maybe it's because you like her!" Yumi growled. The aura around her pulsed, and the grass beneath her ignited, forming a ring of fire around her.   
"Me? Like Sissi? Yeah right" Ulrich said nonchalantly, his heart beating fast in shock at her little trick. "What gave that idea?"  
"Aelita did. Interesting that she told me all about your little run ins with Sissi and not you" she said.   
'Oh, thanks a lot Aelita' Ulrich thought.  
"In fact, not once in the last few days have you even tried to call me, or ask me how I was. Too busy with your girlfriend?" she roared, the fire ring flaring.  
'Here goes' Ulrich thought, his stomach filled with butterflies at what he was about to do. He moved up closer to the floating girl, stared her straight in the eyes and said:  
"Why would I do that when I'm in love with you?"  
The glow dissipated slightly as Yumi looked at him in shock.  
"Did you just say...?"  
"That I love you? Yes" Ulrich said, stepping closer. "Since the day I first saw you"   
"Ulrich..." she said softly, smiling at him with half closed eyes.  
"I know I should've told you sooner, or showed it at least" he said, moving closer as Yumi slowly started to descend, the glowing growing dimmer.  
"I did want to phone you, but I.. I was too chicken. Forgive me?"  
"I-"   
Suddenly she stopped and glanced back at a shuffling noise behind them.  
"Oh no..." Ulrich thought, seeing Aelita, Odd and Sissi in plain view.  
With an audible Whoomp! the glow became brilliant again, her eyes seemed to burn and the flames around her flared like an explosion.  
"You lied!" she roared, flinging him back with a shockwave. "How dare you!"  
"And you!" she said, pointing at the trio behind her. "I thought you were my friends!"  
"We are, Yumi" Aelita said, motioning for Odd and Sissi to get moving. "We're trying to help you c-"  
"No, you're helping her!" Yumi growled, staring at Sissi with nothing but hate.  
"Well, try to protect her now" she roared. Like snakes the fire around her slithered towards them, streaking across the grass, ground and cement like small rivers.  
"Odd, move!" Aelita said, jumping forward.  
She went down on her knees, closed her eyes and started singing. In front of the flames the ground suddenly erupted straight up, opening a small gap in the ground.  
The flames weren't even slowed down. Instead, they merely jumped the gap as they reached it and continued on. Aelita's forehead creased in concentration as she sang harder, creating a massive wall formed out of her shield.  
Her arms shook and trembled as she kept the shield up, watching the flames smack and get rebounded from her barrier.  
"Not bad" a voice said behind her.  
Gasping, Aelita glanced back just as Yumi swatted at her, slamming her hard with a shockwave. Aelita spun from the impact before falling face down on the ground, out cold.   
"But not good enough" Yumi said, floating away. 

"We're almost free!" Odd shouted as they ran, the gates in view and getting closer.  
"Oh no you don't!" a voice shouted behind them, and with a clang the gates slammed shut before twisting until they mangled together, completely unusable and impassable.  
"Great" Odd muttered, shielding Sissi behind him as he turned to face Yumi.  
"Only one choice Odd!" he muttered, reaching down to his watch.  
Sissi gasped as Odd suddenly disappeared in a bubble of light, only to reappear completely changed, with paws and a tail.  
"Laser Slash!" he shouted, spinning around and slashing his claws down.  
Two criss crossing lines flew through the air, struck the wall and destroyed a section of it, revealing the road behind it.  
"Sissi!"   
Sissi's head snapped up, looking at the feline warrior in front of her.  
He reached down and pulled her up. "Sissi, I'm going to try and stop her. You've got to run, Ok?"  
"No! I, I can't do it!" she sobbed, clutching at him.  
Slowly he pulled off her hands. Holding them between his paws he looked her in the eye and said, "You can do it. I know you can"  
"Now go!" he shouted, pushing her away as he bounded towards the glowing Yumi slowly closing in.  
Sissi took one last look at Odd before running towards the hole as fast as her legs could carry him. 

"Laser Arrows!" Odd shouted, firing off a volley at Yumi. Every single one flew away from her, not even coming close to their target.  
"I don't believe this Odd" she said as she moved closer, "You hate Sissi as much as me. Why are you protecting her?"  
"I admit Sissi's a pain" Odd said, dodging a shockwave from her, "But not even she deserves to get hurt like this"  
"Think again!" Yumi shouted, extending an arm with hand clawed.  
"Hurk!" Odd gasped as Yumi caught him in mid air, squeezing him telekineticly.   
"No one's going to stop me" she snarled, glaring into his face as it turned blue, "No one"  
"Yumi..." Odd gasped, choking as she squeezed the life out of him.  
"YUMI! STOP IT!"  
"Ulrich, back for more?" she smiled, dropping Odd to the ground and turning in the air to face him.   
"Yumi, you're dying"  
She stopped, eyes boggling. "What?"  
"Your powers are mixing with your hormones produced by your period" Ulrich said, pointing at her watch. "Unless you calm down, or take off your watch now, your powers will kill you. Aelita told me"  
"You're lying!" Yumi growled.  
"No Yumi" Ulrich said, "I do lie every now and again, but never to you, and you know it"  
"No, it's a trick!" she said, her face filled with confusion, "You... you just want to help that stuck up Sissi-"  
"No" Ulrich said, "I don't. It's you I want to help-"  
"Liar!" Yumi screamed, clenching her eyes shut, a strong wind whipping up around her.  
"Aaargh!" Ulrich screamed as the wind struck him, pinning his whole body with fast moving pebbles and rocks.  
"Ulrich!" Yumi gasped as Ulrich's bloody wrecked body fell to the ground.  
"Ulrich! Oh please no..." she cried, moving closer to him.  
She landed on the ground next to him, drops of tears falling down to his chest.  
"Ulrich, please get up!" she cried, holding him tight to her, tears flowing down her chest. "Ulrich... please..." she cried, cradling his head.  
"I'm so sorry..." she whispered.   
"Me too"  
Before she could react someone hit the back of her head hard, and she passed out.

"Ooh..."   
"Hey guys, she waking up!"  
"What... what happened?" Yumi groaned, opening her eyes slowly, blinking to get the blurry room in focus.  
"Hey there" Aelita said, sitting down on the side of the bed.  
"How're you feeling?"   
"Lousy" Yumi said, "And the back of my head hurts a lot"  
"Sorry" Ulrich said, blushing.  
"Why am I in bed any- Oh God" Yumi groaned as the events replayed through her head. "Did I really...? Did I really try to...?"   
"Destroy the school, destroy us, destroy Sissi?" Odd filled in her question.  
"Yep. And, you almost did"   
"Luckily Ulrich stopped you when he did" Aelita said, "I don't think your body would've been able to take much more"   
"But know everyone knows about... about us" Yumi said, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, "I've exposed us all!"   
"No worries" Odd smiled. "Aelita triggered a back in time and removed everything that happened, so we're safe again for another day"  
"But why didn't you do that when I had gone... mad?" Yumi asked.  
"Wouldn't have worked" Aelita said "As long as you were wearing the watch you'd have still gone mad, since you'd have still been in your period. It was only after Ulrich had got the watch off that we could do it"   
"But, I had...?"  
"Killed me? Nah, that was just one of minarrette clones" Ulrich said, moving closer to the bed. "Jeremie said there was a chance it could kill me, but to save you, I was ready to do anything"  
Yumi smiled at him and held out a hand. Ulrich took her hand in his and sat down on the bed. Aelita coughed politely at Jeremie and Odd and nodded at the door, sneaking out together and closing it behind them.  
"I think they deserve a little together time, don't you?" she smiled.

End...

**Next story: Troubled Dreams...**


	15. Troubled Dreams Pt1

**Alrighty then, now since that last action packed story you'd have thought the gang might just finally get a chance for a breather and relax, maybe getting in some sleep.**

**Heh, think again...**

**Troubled Dreams** **Pt. 1**

Midnight and the city was asleep.  
At her house Aelita was sprawled on the top of her bed, mummering slightly.  
At the Ishiyima house Yumi lay under her covers with a cat doll squashed under her arm.  
And at Kadic Ulrich and Odd were totally out of it, Odd snoring loudly while Ulrich lay with one arm trailing on the ground.  
And Jeremie, of course, was still wide awake, busy at his computer.   
"Hmm, I need a break" he thought, yawning.  
Standing up, stretching, he glanced at his clock.  
"I've still got an hour before I have to go to sleep. And what I really need right now is a shower" he thought, grabbing his toiletries and towel.  
As he left the wall socket near his bed started to pulse a deep red.  
In Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita's room the same phenomenon was happening.  
Silently, long black smoke flowed out of the outlets, crawling along the floor to the beds of their unaware victims.  
Floating up they made their way to their targets heads and entered through the ears, mouth or nose.  
The kids choked and gagged, their bodies shaking voilently before falling still.

"Aelita!"   
"Hmm?" Aelita moaned, wearily opening an eye.  
"Where am I?" she wondered, staring up at a bright blue sky.  
"Aelita!" the voice called again.  
"I know that voice" she realised.  
"Aelita! Get up!"  
"Xander?!" Aelita jumped up and glanced around.  
To her right was large mechanical monstrosity, all cables and wires and metal plates.  
And to her left stood her brother, firing off shot after energy shot at the beast.  
"Why does this feel so familiar?" she thought.  
"Aelita! Run! Get away from here!" he shouted.  
Aelita stared at him in confusion. "But- but you're dead..."   
And then she remembered. This was how he had died.

"Hmmm, something smells good..." Odd mumbled, drooling slightly.  
He openend his eyes and found himself staring up at a familiar poster.   
"What?" He reared up and look around, his eyes wide in shock.  
This was his room. "What am I doing here?" he thought, "Wasn't I staying at Ka-?"  
Knock Knock!  
"Hey sleepy head, breakfast is ready!" his mom's voice came in through the door.  
"Hurry up, or there'll be nothing left!"  
"Uh, coming Mom!" Odd said, still totally confused.  
"Honestly, first day of vacation and already your sleeping in late" his mom muttered as she left.  
"Oh, it's holiday time" Odd sighed in relief. "I must've dreaming about being at Kadic"

Yumi groaned and stretched, her alarm going haywire next to her.  
"I'm up already..." she moaned, smacking it off.  
Slowly, stumbling along the way, she went to the bathroom, showered and got ready for school. As she was grabbing her bag her cell went off. vibrating in the folds of her duvet. She picked it up, click "Open" and read the message:  
MEET ME OUTSIDE GATES THIS MORNING  
HAVE TO TALK  
ULRICH 

"Hey sleepy head" a soft voice said as a hand softly stroked his forehead.  
Ulrich blinked and yawned. Opening his eyes he looked up at Yumi smiling down, still softly stroking his hair.  
The sky was a bright mix of red, yellow and orange, and as he glanced to his side he could see the sun setting, glittering off the lake it was going behind.  
He was lying on a spread picnic blanket beneath a tree, the basket on the far corner and he and Yumi on the other, Ulrich laying on his back with his head on Yumi's lap, her back resting against the tree.   
"Comfortable?" she smiled.  
"Very" he smiled back.

"Jeremie! Come quick!" someone shouted, hammering on the door.  
"Huh? Theo? What's up?" Jeremie asked, opening his door.  
"It's Odd and Ulrich. They won't wake up!" Theo gasped.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"This morning Odd was suppose to help me with some homework, but when I knocked on the door no one answered. It was unlocked, so I went in and found him and Ulrich still fast asleep. I tried to wake Odd, then Ulrich, but neither them would budge.  
I got worried and got Jim, but he couldn't wake them either.  
It's like their in some sort of coma"

**To be continued...**

**Enter Suspensefull music here**

**Ooh, how's that for nasty on Xana's part?**

**Attacking the kids while they're guards completely down?**

**Bad Xana, bad.**

**Check back in tomorrow for Part 2 **


	16. Troubled Dreams Pt2

**Xana: Rock-a-bye kiddies, In my web of dreams.**

**Inside them you'll find, nothing is at it seems.**

**And when you get hit, then you will cry,**

**And soon after that, you all will die...**

**Me: ; Uh... yeah, ok, moving on to the story...**

**Troubled Dreams pt.2**

Jeremie sat in the infirmary, right next to the four beds holding his three silent friends.  
Two hours had passed since they'd been brought there, and still no one had been able to wake them up.  
"I just got a call from Mr Ishiyima"  
Jeremie glanced up at the door. Silhouted in the glass was the Principal, Mr Delmas, Jim and the school nurse Dorothy.  
"Yumi Ishiyima's also suffering from this strange illness"  
"Strange is right" Dorothy said. "I can't find a cause for it. It's like they just... fell asleep and decided to stay asleep"  
"If it was only Odd I'd have thought it was another of his dumb pranks" Jim said,

"But with all four of them like this, we made have a serious issue on our hands"  
"Your right Jim". Delmas sighed, turned to Dorothy and said "Call for Emergency Services. We need to get them to the hospital, right now"

"Xander, no!!" Aelita screamed as her brother was blown to bits, pieces of him flying everywhere. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real..." she kept muttering to herself, squeezing her eyes and ears shut to drown out the horrible sights and sounds.  
So far Xander had been killed three times, each time in a different and increasingly gruesome way. Each time only to start all over again.   
And although Aelita knew this couldn't be happening, she screamed and cried and felt her heart shatter.  
"Aelita, run! Get away from here!" Xander shouted.  
"Oh please God, no..." she whispered as she watched Xander's death happen again.  
And again.  
And again.

Odd whistled as he climbed out of the shower. Dressed and ready for grub, he sprinted downstairs, taking the stairs in leaps.  
"Odd's in the house!" he announced, arms spread wide as he slid across the tiled floor into the kitchen.  
"And food's on the table. Now dig in" his mom said, standing by the stove.  
"Oh wow, this looks great Mom" Odd said, sitting down to a plate filled with flapjacks, bacon, eggs and toast with cheese.  
In minutes he licked of the last of the syrup from the plate's surface before leaning back with a sigh, burped, and said "Great stuff Mom. Boy, am I full"  
"Ah, but we're just starting" his mom said, scraping sausages and more bacon unto his plate along with mash and corn. "Come on, Lunch is ready"  
"Lunch? So soon?" Odd glanced up at the clock. 14:00pm it said.  
"Oh. I guess time flies when you're hungry. Thanks Mom"  
A few more minutes later he sat back against his chair and patted his stomach.  
"Aaah, lunch was served"  
"And just in time for dinner" his mom grinned, bearing another full plate of him towards him.

Yumi walked up to the gate and glanced about.  
No Ulrich in sight.  
"Of course not" she thought, "It was probably just Odd playing a trick. I mean, Ulrich probably wouldn't ever-"  
"Hi Yumi"  
"Oh, uh, Hi Ulrich" Yumi said, startled out of her deep thoughts.   
"So, uh, I got your message. What's up?"  
Ulrich blushed and smiled sheepishly.  
"Well, uh, I, I'd like to know: Would you go out on a date with me?"   
Yumi's cheeks turned bright red as she blushed in surprise and stammered for an answer: "Uh, I, uh, um..."  
"Can I take that as a 'Yes'?"  
Yumi smiled, and nodded.  
"Great! So, uh, how about tonight? At 8?"  
"Sure" Yumi said, still smiling.  
"Ok, well, see you tonight" Ulrich said, and ran up to the school.   
Yumi stood there, still slightly dazed. "I can't believe that just happened" she thought.

"Hey, stop that!"  
Yumi smiled mischeviously, and continued tickling Ulrich's nose with a small stalk of grass. Ulrich swatted at her hand, laughed and reached up to pull her down on him.  
Laughing, they rolled until Ulrich was untop and started to tickle her.  
"Ha ha! No, come on... hee hee!.. no fair!" Yumi giggled.  
Ulrich smiled and leaned down, kissing her on the lips.  
"This is definitely the best day of my life" Ulrich said.  
"Mine too. And it's going to be like this, forever" Yumi smiled, stroking his cheek.

Lights flashing, sirens screaming, the ambulances raced off to the hospital, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita inside each of them. Yumi would be joining them there shortly.  
Jeremie watched as the three ambulances sped off, fear and worry crowding his head.  
A hand landed on his shoulder, and he glanced up at Jim.  
"Don't worry Jeremie. They'll be ok" he said, smiling down at him.

"I wouldn't bet on that" Jeremie thought.

"Uh, Jim?" Jeremie asked as they walked back up to the school.   
"Would it.. would it be ok if I take the rest of the day off?"  
"Hmm, well, I guess it would be ok" Jim said thoughtfully.  
"Why not? I must admit, if you went back to school after the shock you had this morning, you would've been braver then I thought" Jim said, smiling.  
"Oh, and if there's any news on your friends I'll tell you straight away"   
"Thanks Jim" Jeremie said, watching the teacher walk away before turning around and running up the stairs to his room.  
"Sorry Jim" Jeremie thought as he grabbed a few items from his room, "But I'm not going to sit around here all day".  
He closed his room's door after preparing a surprise for Jim, and then snuck down stairs to sneak out of school.  
After a few heart stopping minutes he was outside the school walls, and hurried towards the hospital.

Aelita stared wide eyed with tear stained eyes at the ground, curled up in a ball, arms wrapped tightly around her legs, flinching at the sounds of her brother being massacred. Shutting her eyes didn't help. She could still see it.  
Shutting her ears didn't help. She could still hear it.  
Slowly, so slowly, Aelita started rocking, her eyes growing glassier as she felt herself slip away deep into her mind.

"Uh, Mom, I'm kinda stuffed right now. Could I be excused for a bit?"   
"Of course not Odd" Odd's mom said, planting another full dish of food in front of him.  
"You still have some food to finish"  
"But I'm sooo full!" Odd moaned, eyes pleading.  
"Just a little rest?"  
"Odd Della Robbia! You know the house rules! No leaving the table until you've finished your food!" his mom said, wagging a finger.   
"And as you can see" she said, her voice going hollow and deep, "There's still lots".  
Odd's eyes went wide as he saw the mountain of food behind his mom, and then his eyes wet wider as his mom started laughing.  
And changing.

Yumi blinked. "Wow, the day went by so quickly" she thought as the end of day bell rang and everyone left.  
As she walked out she heard someone call her name and turned around.   
"Oh hey Ulrich" she smiled as he ran up to her.  
"Hey Yumi. I was wondering if, uh, if I could.. walk home with you?" he asked, blushing. Yumi felt her cheeks go pink.  
"Uh, sure" she said, smiling nervously.  
As they walked to Yumi's home they talked about school, music, and of, the date they were going on tonight.  
"See you later tonight!" Ulrich waved at her as she walked up to the front door.  
"Tonight!" she waved back, before closing the door and leaning her back against it, sighing contently. Could this day get any better?

"Could this day get any better?" Ulrich thought as he and Yumi lay on the picnic blanket, her head on his chest, one of her arms curled up over him.  
He smiled and stroked her hair.  
She stirred in her sleep a bit, and then relaxed, a small smile on her lips.  
Ulrich smiled to himself and stared up at the sunset colored waters of the lake, feeling serene, happy, so filled with love he thought he might burst.  
He sighed, totally relaxed with the girl of his dreams in his arms, and wished this day would never end.

"Can I help you?"  
"Uh, Hi, I'm looking for the rooms of my friends" Jeremie said, nervously.  
"Names?" the nurse at the reciptient asked.  
"Aelita Stone, Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia and Yumi Ishiyima"  
"Oh, the four kids they brought in this morning. According to this they're up on the fourth floor, room 401"  
"Would it be ok if I visited them?" Jeremie asked, putting on a weak, sad look.  
"Well, normal not..." the nurse said. Jeremie increased the sadness.   
"Oh.. Ok, just don't tell them I said you could" the nurse said, caving in.  
"Thanks!" Jeremie said, running to the elevators.  
A few minutes later he stood in their room, walking past their silent bodies, the only noise in the room from the beeping machines and Jeremie's footsteps.  
"Just hang on a bit more guys, I'm on my way" Jeremie said.  
He stopped at Aelita's bed, dropped his bag and pulled out a kind of head band with wires running down it to a small device before continuing on from it.  
He placed the small device around his wrist and activated it before placing the band on his head.  
He reached down and stroked Aelita's hand before picking up the wires from his gadget and plugging it into her watch.  
"Here goes" Jeremie clenched his eyes shut, and pressed the go button.   
And his world went black.

**To Be Continued...**

**Heh, now hows that for a bad night's sleep?**

**Well, not in Ulrich and Yumi's case.**

**But then, dreams can always twist into nightmares just like that.**

**Check back in tomorrow for a possible update **


	17. Troubled Dreams Pt3

**And now for more mind bending thrills as Xana's little mind-mares slowly but surely do their terrible work.**

**But never fear, cause Jeremie's here!**

**But then again, he might just be too late...**

**Troubled Dreams pt.3**

"Here goes"  
Jeremie clenched his eyes shut, pressed the go button.  
And his world went black.

He felt as though he was falling, or floating, yet he couldn't see, hear or feel anything.  
The sensation of movement stopped, and suddenly a bright light flared, blinding him.  
He closed his eyes, the light still dazzlingly brightly as spots behind his eyelids.  
He shook his head and blinked, rubbing his eyes as he took in his surroundings.  
"Oh wow, it worked!" he said, gazing at the landscape before him, an exact replica of Lyoko's Desert Region.  
"Ok, no time for celebrating just yet Jeremie" he thought, "First you've got to...  
..Aelita!" he gasped.  
Next to him, curled up into a tight ball, arms wrapped her legs, sat Aelita, rocking back and forth, her wide unseeing eyes staring at the desert floor, tear streaks still wet on her cheeks, a few tears still coursing down them.  
"Aelita?" Jeremie crouched down next to her, waving a hand in front of her blank face.  
She just sat and stared at nothing, rocking.  
"Aelita? Aelita, it's me Jeremie"  
Back and forth, back and forth.  
"Aelita, please, say something!" Jeremie said, grabbing her shoulders.   
She stopped rocking, but still didn't seem to register his presence.   
"Aelita, what happened to you?" Jeremie asked, staring into her glazed eyes.  
Her eyes seemed to flicker to the side for a second.  
Jeremie glanced to the side, and saw.  
Saw her brother trying to defend her from some mechanical nightmare.  
Saw him being massacred to pieces.  
Saw it happening again, only worse, again and again.  
"Oh God, Aelita" Jeremie glanced back at her, and realised why she didn't answer him.  
The shock and trauma from seeing her brother being killed over and over again with no escape had made her retreat into herself. Deep inside herself.  
And sooner then later no one would be able to get her back.  
"Oh Aelita" Jeremie hugged her to him, and started crying.  
"Please wake up, it's only a dream. It's not real"  
"Please, come back. We need you. I.. I need you"  
Aelita didn't reply, didn't answer, didn't do anything.  
Jeremie held her close to him for a few more seconds before standing up.   
"Sorry Aelita" he said, before walking away, towards the nightmare scene.  
He ignored the shower of blood and bits as Xander was shredded to bits, walking closer and closer to the monstrous machine with an angry look on his face.  
"Surprised to see me?" he asked, stopping two feet away from the monster.   
It looked him up and down, it's mandibles and steel cable tentacles twitching.  
"Well, I've got to say, you really outdid yourself, trapping everyone in their dreams"  
The machine floated up and started to move slowly towards him.   
"Unfortunately, you kinda messed up, only getting four out of five"  
The machine's shadow rolled over him, the machine staring down at him with utter malevolence.  
Behind Jeremie Aelita's rocking slowed down a bit, her glazed eyes became a little unglazed. "J-Jeremie?"  
Jeremie didn't look back. Instead, he grinned up at the machine, smirked and said:  
"So much for artificial intelligence"  
The machine monster snarled and lashed down to spear him on a bladed tentacle.  
"Jeremie, NO!" Aelita screamed.

"M-Mom?" Odd stared at the thing that once was his mother.  
She smiled at him with razor sharp teeth underneath two red slitted eyes, her skin black and scaly, her hands ending in scizzor claws like a crab's.  
"Time for food!" she said, her voice a raspy hiss.  
"You do enjoy food, don't you?" she laughed, as a small mountain of food landed on Odd's plate.  
"I did, but, and I never thought I'd say this, I think I've had enough" he said, and started to get up, only to find himself stuck.  
"Wha-?" he glanced down to find his chair had sprouted tree like roots around his ankles, thighs and chest.  
"Uh, uh, uh. No leaving until you've finished all your food!" Mom said, wagging a finger.  
"Or until your stomach explodes"

Yumi rushed from the shower to her room to get dressed, pulling out a black top with straps, dark red jacket, her favourite dark blue jeans and black flat heel shoes.  
"Oh, I've only got a few more minutes left!" she muttered anxiously, sneaking a quick glance at her clock.  
Minutes and make up later she was ready for her date.  
Just as she grabbed her purse there was a knock on her bedroom door.   
"Yeah?"   
"Hi Yumi, can I come in?"  
"U-Ulrich?" Yumi stuttered in surprise, "What are you doing here?"  
"I came to pick you for the date, remember?"  
"Yeah, I now that, but what are you doing here in the house?" Yumi asked, staring at the door, "And how'd you get past my Dad?"   
"I have my ways. Uh, Yumi, can I please come in? It feels kinda weird to be talking to the door"  
"Oh sorry, yeah, come on in"  
Ulrich opened the door and gasped when he saw her.  
"You're going out like that?"  
"What?" 

Ulrich opened his eyes, and smiled. He and Yumi were lying underneath an old tree in the park, a picnic basket close by, the setting sun sparkling in the water as it disappeared beneath the lake.  
He felt like he and Yumi had always been like this, like there were no other days except this one, this one perfect, beautiful day.  
"Yeah" a finger touched his chin, turning his head to face Yumi.  
"What were you thinking about?" she asked.  
"You" he said, smiling.  
"Flatterer" she said, smiling and blushing.  
"Hey, I aim to please"  
She smiled and kissed him on the lips, her arms hugging him against her as they kissed.  
"Wow, I should compliment you more often" Ulrich said as they pulled apart.  
Yumi just smiled and kissed him again.

Aelita felt the ground tremble, her eyes clenched tight, unwilling to see the latest death on her hands.  
"Is that the best you've got?"  
"Jeremie?" she opened her eyes, and stared in wonder at the still standing, still living Jeremie standing in front of Xana's monster, hands on his hips, shaking his head.  
"Really, I was expecting much better" he said, folding his arms.  
The machine roared in anger and swung another spearlike appendage down.   
Aelita watched in amazement as Jeremie seemed just step to the side and miss the shape blurring through the air to impact in the ground.  
The monster mechanical menace seemed to snap at Jeremie's unwillingness to die, and attacked him with all of it's tentacles and blades at once.  
Jeremie moved faster then Aelita could follow, dodging every single one of them before vanishing into thin air.  
Aelita and the monster scanned the area when suddenly someone whistled, and shouted "Here I am!".  
Jeremie stood on top of the monster's head, waving happily at the enraged machine.  
With a woosh every single deadly appendage lanced down to skewer Jeremie.  
And this time they did skewer, only it was the machine they got, not the boy.  
Oil and mechanical fluid spilled out from the machine's top and bottom holes of damage, the light in it's artificial eyes dimming before it exploded in large ball of orange and yellow flames.  
"Jeremie?" Aelita glanced about.  
"Right here Aelita"  
"Aah!" Aelita jumped as Jeremie appeared right next to her.  
"Oh, Jeremie! Thank God you're alright!" she said, jumping on him and toppling him and her to the ground, hugging him tightly, tears falling down her chest.  
"Uh, Yeah, I'm, I'm fine" Jeremie said, blushing hard.  
"But how did you-?"  
"Ta-da!" Jeremie smiled, holding up his wrist with the device.  
"I used this to jack into your scanner device. Since it and you are connected, I used it to get into your dream. You, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita are in the hospital at the moment.  
Me too, although not in a coma"  
"But how did you fight the monster?"  
"Two ways: one, Xana had control of your mind and dream, but not mine, and two, everytime it was about to hit me I just jacked out, and then jacked back in, hence the disappearing act"  
He helped her up and pointed to a small hole in the ground.  
"We've got to go and help the others, but I'll have to jack into them one by one.  
You, on the other hand, can use the link between the scanners to go to them.  
Just touch the hole and you'll go to Odd.  
I'll be there shortly"  
Aelita nodded and started towards the hole.  
"Jeremie?"   
"Yeah?" he asked, finger on the "out" button.  
"Thanks for the rescue" she said, and kissed him on the cheek before touching the hole and disappearing, leaving a wide eyed blushing Jeremie on the desert, idle rubbing his cheek before disappearing. 

**Concludes Next!**


	18. Troubled Dreams Pt4

**W00t! Time to update!**

**Prepare for more nightmarish terror as we continue on deeper into the dream traps Xana's got our heroes into.**

**At least Aelita's free, but how are the others faring?**

**Warning! Some very creepy stuff later on in! You have doth been warned!**

**Troubled Dreams pt4**

"Brr!" Jeremie shook himself as he came back to real world.  
"One down, three to go. Hang on guys, we're coming" He said as he unplugged from Aelita and moved over to Odd.  
He connected to Odd's watch, activated his gadget, and jacked in.

"Woah!" Aelita shouted as she fell down the long dark tunnel.  
At least she thought it was a tunnel. It seemed more like a void, so dark she couldn't even see her own hands in front of her face.  
She thought she heard Jeremie's voice when suddenly a bright dot of light appeared below her. "Get ready, Aelita, we're almost there!"  
She turned to see Jeremie, silhoutted by the light, falling next to her.  
"Remember, it's just a dream. And since it's not your dream, you should be able to use your powers. I hope"  
"And if I can't?"  
"Then I guess I'll have to do all the butt kicking!" Jeremie said just as the light swallowed them up.

With a thump and twin grunts they landed on a hard wooden floor, the air around them filled with the smells of food and cooking. And shouts.  
"Odd!" Aelita cried out as they got up, staring at their friend being held hostage by a chair while a large monster with crab arms was trying to force food into him.  
"Aelita! Jeremie! Help!" he shouted, struggling to break free.  
"Don't interfere!" the monster rasped, glaring at them.  
"He's not allowed to leave until he's eaten all of his food!"  
"Eat this!" Aelita growled as she took a deep breath...  
And let loose a sonic assault, slamming the monster hard against the wall with a loud crack. "Oh yeah, now where talking" Aelita grinned.  
"Jeremie, you free Odd while I release some of my... negativity"  
"Have fun" Jeremie said, running towards Odd as the monster mom reared back up roaring. Aelita closed her eyes and rolled her head, her neck cracking as she loosend up. "Let's get it on" she said.  
"Hey Odd, having fun?" Jeremie asked as he started to untie Odd.  
"Oh yeah, tons" Odd said, rolling his eyes, his mouth ringed with sauce and bits of food. "Just get me out before Mom-ster decides to eat us as snacks"  
"I think she's going to be busy for a while" Jeremie said as another loud rocking smash filled the air. "Aelita had a pretty nasty time, and right now she's taking it all out on the monster"  
"I almost feel sorry for it... well, actually, saying almost would be lying" Odd said, groaning as he got off the chair, his hands on his round bulging stomach.  
"So, what's the deal?" he asked, the mom-ster shrieking in pain behind them.  
"Short version: Xana, dream, trap. Me, jacking into dream, setting free. And as soon as Aelita's done" Slam, crash, screech "You'll have to go and help Yumi and Ulrich.  
Who knows what horrors Xana's doing to them?"

"What?" Yumi gasped, staring in shock at Ulrich.  
"You heard me" Ulrich said, looking her up and down.  
"I can't believe you were thinking of going out like that!"  
He slammed the door close and turned towards her, a strange look in his eyes.  
"Well, we're going to have to change that"  
"Ulrich, wha- what're you doing?" Yumi asked, fear cluthcing her heart as he moved closer and closer. She backed away from him and ran to the windows, which seemed to be far away from her.  
She grabbed the bottom of one and tugged, unable to get it open.  
And the same with the next, and the next, and the next.  
"Ulrich, please! Stop it!" Yumi shouted as she was backed up into a corner.  
Ulrich smirked, and nodded.  
The walls around Yumi suddenly extended long tentacles that grabbed her arms and legs, lifting her up from the ground and holding her in the air, hands and arms held together.  
"I don't believe it" Ulrich said, going through her clothes, "Not one decent piece of clothing anywhere. Very well, since you don't have anything good to wear, then you won't wear anything at all"  
Yumi was still struggling when she felt the cold air on her skin.  
She looked down to find herself naked.  
"I can't believe it. Even without clothes you don't look good" Ulrich said, shaking his head in disgust.  
"I don't even know what I saw in you. I mean, look at you and that skinny body" he said, laughing cruelly.  
Yumi felt the tears forming at her eyes as he's words stung her.  
"How can you be so mean?" she sobbed.  
"What? Did I hurt your feelings, by speaking the truth?" Ulrich said, sneering.  
"Well then, I guess it won't matter if I tell you that I don't love you anymore, especially not after seeing you like this. No, I've got a new love in my life"  
"Oh Ulrich!" Sissi laughed as she ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him.  
"No..." Yumi sobbed, the tears falling down her cheeks while Ulrich stood alongside Sissi, both of them pointing at her and laughing.

"Yumi?" Ulrich sat up, the sounds of Yumi in distress still in his ears.  
"Sssh, it was just a dream" Yumi said, placing a hand on his chest.  
"See? I'm right here, safe and sound in your arms" she smiled, stroking his cheek.  
Ulrich relaxed and leaned down to kiss her.  
He pulled her closer to him, held tightly against him and whispered in her ear:  
"No matter what, I'll always protect you"  
"I'll keep you to that" she whispered back.

"Stress all gone" Aelita said, stretching.  
"I really needed that"  
"Uh, yeah. Just remind me never to make you angry" Odd said, staring in shock at the wake of devastation behind her.  
"So Jeremie, where to next?" Aelita asked as they walked away and headed to the hole.  
"Yumi's up ahead, and then Ulrich. I'll see you guys there" Jeremie said before disappearing.  
"Hope we're not too la- Odd, what're doing?" Aelita asked, hands on her hips.  
"What? I'm just grabbing something for the road" Odd said, stuffing what looked like a sausage into his pocket.  
"Ooh, cookies!"  
Aelita groaned, smacking her forehead with her hand.  
"Urk!... Ah, come on!" Odd moaned as she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the hole.

Jeremie blinked, and found himself back in the real world.  
"Two down, two to go" he thought, unplugging from Odd.  
He moved over to Yumi and connected to her watch before activating the device and jacking in.  
He blinked and found himself in the dark void, falling along a voice that was shouting:  
"Wheee!"  
"Odd! Stop that!" Aelita shouted, wishing once again she could see in the pitch darkness. "Ah, much better" she said as the exit appeared, filling the air with light.  
Smack!  
"Ow!"

"Ulrich, please... stop..." Yumi cried, as she hanged naked in the air, her hands and feet tied together by tentacles formed from the walls while Ulrich and Sissi pointed and laughed at her while making horrible remarks.  
"Why? It's not hurting anyone" Ulrich grinned, causing Yumi to cry anew.  
"Oops, I think she thinks she's a someone" Sissi said, sneering.  
"That can't be. Everyone knows she's a no one, cause she doesn't matter to any one!" Ulrich said, and they both laughed again.  
"Not... true.." Yumi sniffed, "Parents..."  
"Love you? Oh please" Ulrich turned to the bedroom door and shouted:  
"Mr and Mrs Ishiyima? Could you come in here for a moment?"  
"Yes?" Yumi's parents said as they walked in.  
"What do you think of your daughter?"  
"Daughter? We don't have a daughter, just a shame in the family, and a waste on our finances. I mean, look at her, she's not good for anything, or anyone" they said.  
"Mom... Dad... n-no.." Yumi sobbed, her body trembling in embaressment and sadness as the tears rolled down her face.  
"See Yumi, it's like I said: No one in the world loves you-"  
"I wouldn't be so sure of that" Aelita said as she, Odd and Jeremie dropped to the bedroom floor through the ceiling.  
"Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted, firing an arrow into Sissi.  
"Aargh!" Sissi snarled as she vanished into nothing.  
"Heh, whose your worst nightmare now?" Odd grinned.  
"Me" Ulrich said, before morphing into a new shape with four arms, a long sharp tail, fangs, and six red eyes.  
"Come on, make my day dream" Odd said while Jeremie and Aelita groaned at the horrible pun.  
"Yah!" Ulrich hissed, leaping up at them.  
"Yah!" Odd shouted, leaping up at him.  
They seemed to shoot past each other, landing down on opposite sides, standing still.  
"Uh, what are you guys doing?" Aelita asked after a few minutes.  
"Hey, yeah, shouldn't you be falling over?" Odd asked, "Like in the animes?"  
"From what hit?" Ulrich hissed.  
"Uh, that one" Odd grinned, pointing at three large gashes running across Ulrich's chest. "Pfft, it'll take more then that to stop me" Ulrich laughed.  
"Still, I won't let this moment to attack your friends slip past, not when they're so close. Yaaagh!"  
SCREEEE!  
"Ooof!" Ulrich grunted as Aelita's sonic scream smacked him in mid-air and sent him flying back.  
"I don't think so" Aelita said, crossing her arms.  
"Why you-" Ulrich started saying before his head exploded.  
"Will that work?" Odd asked, standing behind him.  
Ulrich's body twitched once, and toppled forward.  
"Well done Odd" Aelita said, "Now go and help Yumi"  
"I'm on it- oh, uh, maybe not" Odd said with his back to them.  
"Why, what's wrong?"  
"Uh, well, she's kinda.. naked" Odd said, turning around, his face bright red.  
"Oh brother. Jeremie, come and give me a ha- Jeremie?" Aelita asked, turning to find Jeremie with his back to her.  
"Uh, sorry Aelita, but well..."  
"Boys!" Aelita grumbled annoyed, "Useless when you really need them..."  
She walked up to Yumi and untied the rope like tentacles around her hands, slowly lowereing her to the ground before loosening the ones on her legs.  
"Yumi?" Aelita asked, staring at her friends tear covered face.  
"Nobody loves me, nobody loves me, nobody loves me" Yumi muttered softly, her eyes staring right through Aelita.  
"Oh no... Yumi, listen, it's Aelita here. It's just a dream, it's not real. Do you hear me? It's not real"  
"Nobody loves me, nobody loves me..."  
"Not good" Aelita muttered.  
"Come on Yumi, you know it's not true. If it was, then why would Odd, Jeremie and I have come here to rescue you?"  
Yumi continued muttering and staring at nothing.  
"And if we don't care or love, then why are we about to go and risk our lives to go and rescue Ulrich?"  
Yumi stopped muttering.  
"That's right. Ulrich. The real Ulrich. He's trapped in a dream just like you. And he's going to need your help"  
"Ulrich?" Yumi whispered.  
"Yes, Ulrich. You want to come and help us rescue him?"  
Yumi blinked and nodded, her eyes coming back into focus.  
"Uhh" she moaned, rubbing her head as she sat up.  
"Why do I feel so... empty? And why am I naked?!" Yumi gasped, covering her chest.  
"Long story. I'll fill you in as you get dressed. Boys, outside. Now!"  
"Yes Ma'am" Odd and Jeremie said before marching of to the door.

"What a wonderfull day this has been" Ulrich sighed, lying on the picnic blanket, Yumi lying in the crook of his arm with her's draped over him.  
"Yeah. I wish it would never end" Yumi said, staring up at the clouds passing by.  
"Me too. I wish we could be like this forever"  
"You mean it?" Yumi asked, sitting up.  
"Yeah" Ulrich smiled.  
Yumi smiled back and leaned down to kiss him.  
"Hey, who knows? Maybe your wish will come true"  
"I really hope so" Ulrich said.

Beep Beep Beep  
The nurse checked the computer and read:  
"Room 401, Ulrich Stern. What the-? What's happening to his brain waves?"  
She reached down and grabbed the intercom system.  
"Doctor Shaun to Room 401, Doctor Shaun to Room 401. We have an emergency on our hands!"

**Concludes next...**

**Brrr! Man, that Yumi scene gave even me the creeps when I wrote it.**

**Still, now the gang only have Ulrich lef to save.**

**But the question is, will Ulrich want to be saved?**

**Find out next time...**


	19. Troubled Dreams Pt5

**And now it's time for the last and final chapter of the CL gang's battle in their minds as they try and rescue Ulrich.**

**Thing is though, Ulrich's really in his own little dreamworld, and I'm not too sure he wants to go back...**

**Troubled Dreams** **pt5**

"Hmm, this so relaxing" Ulrich smiled as he lay on Yumi's lap while she massaged his shoulders. "If you keep this up much longer I might fall asleep"  
"And that's a bad thing?" Yumi smiled down at him.  
"Not from where I'm lying" Ulrich said, yawning happily.  
"Then close your eyes" Yumi said, kissing him on the forehead  
"And just relax and let it all go..."

Jeremie woke up to the sounds of alarms beeping.  
"Wha? What's going- Ulrich!" Jeremie gasped as he saw the warning signs on his friend's monitor. "This is so not good" Jeremie muttered as he quickly uncoupled his device from Yumi's watch and moved over to Ulrich's bed.  
"Hang on just a bit more Ulrich" Jeremie said, quickly connecting the wiring to his watch.  
Suddenly the hospital's room door burst open, followed by the appearance of an orderly, a nurse and a doctor.  
"Hey you, what do you think you're doing?" the orderly shouted, running up to the bed and grabbing Jeremie's arm.  
"Ow! Hey, let go!" Jeremie shouted, struggling to free himself from the guy's grip.  
"Doctor, he's brainwaves are going down along with his heart rate. It's like he's mind and body are just... shutting down"  
"We'd better hurry fast. Nurse, go get a cardio team for me in case we need them.  
Orderly, take that kid somewhere where he'll be out of the way!" the doctor said as he took a needle from the nurse along with a bottle of clear liquid.  
"No, wait, you're making a mistake!" Jeremie shouted as the orderly started to drag him away.  
"Come on kid, don't make this harder for- Ouch!" the orderly cried out as Jeremie bit him on the arm. As his grip lessened on the boy Jeremie pulled loose and ran to Ulrich's bed, cable in hand, dodging past the nurse and doctor, before reaching down, grabbing Ulrich's arm and jacking in.  
He felt the familiar pull of the device just as someone dragged him back.  
"No!" Jeremie shouted as the connection was disrupted, and he found himself falling aimlessly into the dark void.

"Hmm, shouldn't Jeremie have been here by now?" Odd's voice asked as he, Aelita and Yumi flew trough the void towards Ulrich.  
"Yeah. I hope nothing's happened to him" Aelita's voice said.  
"Anyway, we're here" she said as the light erupted below them and grew and grew until they fell into and were swallowed up into Ulrich's dream.  
And found themselves in the most peacefull place they had ever imagined.   
"It's so... beatiful" Yumi said in hushed tones, staring at the setting sun glittering on the waves of the lake ahead of them.  
"Oh man, that's not right!" Odd's shouted, making Yumi and Aelita jump.  
Turning around they saw Odd with his back to them, staring down the hill they were on.  
"Odd, what's wrong?" Aelita asked, as she and Yumi ran up to him.   
"That!" Odd said, pointing at Ulrich lying on Yumi's lap, smiling, utterly relaxed while she stroked his hair.  
"We get put through nightmares and sick twisted stuff, and he get's the best dream ever! It's just not fair!" Odd moaned tearfully.   
smack! "Ow!"  
"Idiot..." Aelita muttered.  
"Come on, the sooner we get him free from Yumi's, Uh, from Evil Yumi's grip, the sooner we can get out of here. Ready to kick some butt?"   
"Yeah!" Odd said.  
"Yumi?" Aelita asked.  
Yumi stared down at the sight of Ulrich and her fake other together, smiling, their faces full of only love for each other.  
"Xana took my greatest dream and twisted it, breaking my heart while using Ulrich's to take his. Ready to kick some butt? Yep, and so much more"   
"Uh oh" Odd whimpered, as Yumi clenched her fists and started to march down the hill.

"Oh, this is just great" Jeremie muttered as he drifted through the nothingness of the void. Or at least he thought he was drifting. In this field of no senses it was kinda hard to tell. "Well Jeremie, looks like you're in a real pickle" Jeremie thought, "So what're you going to do about it?"  
"Think my way out of it, of course"

"Shhh, that's it, just relax" Yumi said softly as Ulrich felt himself drifting off bit by bit.  
"Close your eyes and sl- What the?"  
"Hmm?" Ulrich grunted, too comfortable to open his eyes.  
"Ulrich, we've got trouble!"  
"What kind of trouble?" he asked, opening his eyes lazily.  
"Double trouble" Yumi said, pointing towards herself, Aelita and Odd heading towards them. Ulrich felt his body wake up from the shock of seeing the double and sat up fast.  
"It must be Xana attacking. But why aren't Odd or Aelita fighting her?"   
"Maybe they're doubles too. Oh Ulrich, I'm scared!"  
"Don't worry Yumi, I'll protect you"  
"Like you promised?" Yumi asked, looking at him with large black eyes full of hope.  
"Like I promised" Ulrich nodded.  
He stared at the fakes running towards them, and felt the anger build up inside of him.  
How dare Xana use his friends as weapons? Well, they weren't going to get anywhere near Yumi. He would see to that.  
"Scanner Ulrich!" he shouted, activating his watch. "Virtualisation!"   
A blue flash, and Ulrich stood ready with both swords drawn.  
"Stop right there you phonies!" he shouted as the three doubles reached the top of the hill. "Did he just call us phonies?"   
"Not now Odd... Ulrich, you've got to listen to us. You're trapped in a dream right now, thanks to Xana. We're here to get you out before it's too late" Aelita said.  
"A dream huh? Is that the best you can come up with?" Ulrich sneered.  
Aelita was about to answer when Yumi stepped forward and said:  
"It's true Ulrich. We were also trapped in our dreams, which Xana turned into nightmares. If it hadn't been for Jeremie we'd have been dead by now"  
"If that's true then where is Jeremie?" the other Yumi shouted from behind Ulrich.  
"And if Xana's was using nightmares why wouldn't he also do the same to Ulrich?"  
"That's right" Ulrich said, nodding "As far as I can see the only nightmares around here are you three fake copies of my friends!"   
"You tell them Ulrich" the other Yumi cheered. "Don't let them fool you- Oof!"  
"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted in fear as she was flung backwards against the tree by Yumi.  
"Yaah!" he roared, leaping towards the fake Yumi and sliced down.  
Crack!" his blades impacted against Aelita's shield.  
"Go! We'll keep him busy" Aelita said as she flung her hands forward and drove Ulrich back with the shield.  
"Oh no you don't!" Ulrich shouted as he started to run after the fake, only to find Odd blocking his way.  
"Sorry Ulrich, but this is for your own good" Odd said.

At the tree Yumi unfurled her two fans as her copy stood up, grinning.   
"Oh, what's the matter? Not angry are you?" she asked, pulling two similiar fans.  
"What do you think?" Yumi said, going into an attack pose.  
"Bring it!" the other Yumi said, beckoning.  
The two Yumi's leapt at each other, slicing, slashing, their fans throwing off sparks and ringing as they met again and agian, attacking, defending.  
"Come on, admit it" the fake said as she shoved Yumi away.  
"You're just angry that he likes me more then you!"  
"You know" Yumi said, glowing. "I'm getting really tired of you!"  
"Aah!" the fake screamed as Yumi telekineticly blasted her off her feet, the blast slamming her so hard back against the tree that it cracked and toppled.  
"Yumi! No!"

Ulrich spun and went low, sweeping his foot in a semi-circle to knock Odd off of his before dodging to the side so that Aelita's sonic blast shot past him.  
Huffing he reached down to his watch and opened the panel to the minarette.   
"What?" he gasped as he saw it was empty.  
"But.. how?" he thought, just as Odd tackled him from the side, knocking the air out of him. "Come on Ulrich, wake up already!" Odd said as he stood next to the weezing Ulrich bent over double.   
"Fighting friends is no fun man. You've gotta snap out of it"  
"This doesn't make sense" Ulrich thought, still weezing slightly, "Why isn't he taking me out? Could it be that they've been telling me the tru-"  
"Aah!"   
"Yumi! No!" Ulrich shouted as he watched his Yumi being slammed into the tree hard and falling to the ground, out cold.  
He grabbed Odd's foot and pulled, slamming Odd flat to the ground before punching him in the gut to leave him breathless before taking off towards his fallen girl.  
"Sorry Ulrich, but I can't let you pass" Aelita said, jumping in front of him with a shield.  
Ulrich jumped up, landing on the shield and pushed off, shooting up and over in the air to land behind Aelita, and then landing a punch to her head that left her dazed and seeing stars.  
He spun back to the toppled tree and saw in shock the fake Yumi standing over Yumi with her fan, ready to deliver the final blow.  
"No!" Ulrich shouted, rushing towards her with his sword out.  
Yumi turned and spotted him just as he slashed at her, and jumped back.   
"Ulrich, please, it's me. The real me. You've got to believe me"  
"No you're not, you're just a fake"  
Yumi felt a familiar pain shoot through her chest as his words hit her.   
"No, I'm real. She's the fake. She's been trying to kill you all this time, trying to get you to sleep, and then make you sleep forever"   
"No she didn't..." Ulrich said with uncertainty.  
"It's not... like... that..." Ulrich's swords lowered as his mind played over the last few hours. Or minutes? Days? How long had they been together here?  
"You know what I'm saying is true" Yumi said.  
Holding out her hand she smiled and said, "Come on Ulrich, take my hand, and we'll leave here and wake up. Together"  
Ulrich stared at her hand, confused. Slowly, so slowly he reached out towards her.  
"Uhh, Ulrich... help... it hurts so much..." the fake groaned from the ground.  
Ulrich blinked, and Yumi saw the anger in his eyes flame back up.  
"This is for Yumi!" he shouted, and stabbed his sword into Yumi's chest.

Or would've, if it hadn't disappeared.  
"You know, what they say about love is true" Jeremie said, holding Ulrich's sword.  
"It does make you do stupid things"  
"J-Jeremie?" Ulrich gasped, staring at his friend. "Where'd you come from?"   
"Oh, just you're mind. Long story"  
"Then this.. this really is a dream?"  
"Yep" Jeremie nodded.  
"And I almost..."  
"Yep"   
"But what you almost did I'll definitely do!" the fake Yumi shouted, and flicked both fans at Yumi.  
"Yumi!" The gang shouted as the fans ate up the distance in an eyeblink...   
... and stopped inches from a glaring glowing Yumi.  
"That was so the wrong move" Yumi said, and telekineticly flicked them back to sink deep into her shocked surprised fake.  
"Damn" the fake gurgled before toppling over to the ground.

"That was fun. What's next?" Odd asked as they regrouped and sat at the bottom of the hill, staring out across the sunset colored lake.   
"Well, since we've won I'd say your about to wake up. Just jump down the last hole and you're free" Jeremie said.  
"Uh, where is the hole?" Odd asked.  
"Hey, that's right" Aelita said, looking around. "Usually one appears right after we kicked the nightmare Xana baddies"   
"Unfortunately you guys are going to have to find it. I don't have my device to help.  
Again, long story" Jeremie said.  
"But still, it shouldn't be too far."  
"Then let's get looking" Aelita said, standing up.  
They split apart and looked all over the limit space they could (Just past the hills the dream ended in a massive black wall of nothing, which Odd discovered when he tried to walk into it and smacked his head), before meeting back up again.  
"I didn't see it anywhere!" Odd moaned.  
"Me neither" Aelita said.  
Yumi shook her head.  
"Hmm, it's almost as if it's being hidden..."  
As one they turned to look at Ulrich, still sitting at the edge of the lake.  
Yumi sighed and walked down towards him.  
She stopped next to him and sat down, staring at the water with him.   
"Wanna talk about?" she asked.  
"Talk about what?" he asked.  
"Whatever's bothering you"  
Ulrich sighed.  
"If you let it out, I promise you'll feel better"  
"I.. it's just... Yumi, I almost killed you!"  
"But you didn't"  
"Thanks to Jeremie. If it wasn't for him-"  
"Not true"  
"What?" he glanced at her.  
"That swing you had was very weak. That's how he was able to get the sword from you. Plus if I wanted I'd have been able to dodge it. Deep down, you knew it was me"  
She turned her head and smiled at him, "And you tried to protect me, even then"  
Ulrich felt himself blush and looked away, and then his eyes went wide in surprise as Yumi suddenly kissed him on the cheek.  
She stood up and held out her hand.  
"Come on, let's wake up"  
Ulrich smiled and grabbed her hand.  
"Together" 

"Uuh..." Ulrich groaned as he openend his eyes...  
...and found himself staring into the face of a doctor standing over his naked chest with two defiblirate pads, ready to shock him.  
"Woah, hey, wait!" Ulrich shouted, dodging to the side while the doctor gasped and jumped back.  
"Ok, that does it" the doctor said, "This day's just been to freaky"  
"Doc, you don't know the half of it" Odd said.

"So Doc, what's the verdict?" Odd asked.  
"Hmm, so far all your tests have come back negative, your brain wave patterns are normal, and your heart rates are stable. To put it blunt: Your fine, and I'm stumped about what caused it"  
"So does that mean we can go back to Kadic?" Aelita asked.  
"What, and give up the chance of a spongebath from the nurse?" Odd asked.  
"Hmm, well, I was going to ask you to stay overnight for observation, but now I'm suddenly having second thoughts" The doctor said while Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita giggled. "However, your friend is still out. He doesn't have your symptoms though.  
He's just gone into a coma. Hopefully he'll wake up soon"  
"Could we go and see him later?" Ulrich asked.  
"Sure" The doctor smiled and left.  
"Man, I can't wait to get out of here" Jeremie's voice came out of Ulrich's mouth.  
"Stupid orderly. Thanks to him I'm stuck inside Ulrich's mind till you guys can upload me back into my body"  
"Hey Jeremie, while you're there, do you find any dark juicy secrets to share?" Odd asked. "Well, now that you mention it-"   
"Oh no you don't!" Yumi said, slapping her hand over his mouth.

**End**

**Woot! And that's that **

**Hope you guys liked it, and look out for the next chapter coming soon called:**

**Who's Ulrich?**

**Till then!**


End file.
